LEESBURG - Following in your father's or mother's footsteps is a fairly common occurrence for young college graduates.

And it's even more common in Warsaw, where three principals have their own children teaching in Warsaw Community Schools this year.

The daughter of Jefferson Elementary Principal Dennis Duncan, Emily Duncan, and the son of Harrison Elementary Principal Randy Polston, Nathan Polston, started their teaching careers this fall at Leesburg Elementary School. In addition, Lincoln Elementary Principal Cathy Snyder's daughter, Krishna Snyder, teaches at Madison.

Monday afternoon at Leesburg Elementary, the six educators talked about how they each got into education.

For Randy, it all started more than 30 years ago. "As I was growing up, I felt the Lord's calling toward ministry or education," he said.

Randy graduated from Warsaw Community High School in 1973. While attending Spring Arbor College, he felt another calling from the Lord towards elementary education. He decided then that was how he was going to make a difference. He earned his bachelor's degree in education and his first year of teaching was at the former McKinley Elementary School. He then taught at Lincoln for eight years. The Lord, he said, then led him into elementary school administration. He received his administration degree from IPFW before becoming the Claypool principal for five years. In 1991, he was asked to open Harrison. At the end of this school year, he said it will mark his 30th year with the Warsaw School system.

"I'm a homegrown kid," said Randy.

His son Nathan also is homegrown. Nathan graduated from WCHS in 2002 and from Indiana Wesleyan, Marion, in May.

Nathan said for a long time he didn't want to be in education. But the more he worked around kids and saw the impact his father had on them, the more he felt it was what he wanted to do with his life.

"Just having the love for children, being able to work with them every day, being able to make a difference in the lives of kids who need a good role model," Nathan said of what drew him to teaching.

Randy didn't find out Nathan's decision from Nathan. Randy's good friend, Dennis Duncan, called Randy and told him congratulations. Randy asked Dennis what the congratulations were for, and Dennis replied he just found out Nathan declared elementary education for his major. Randy called Nathan and gave him a hard time, but they shared a good talk. "It brought a tear to my eye," said Randy. The next time Randy and Nathan saw each other, Randy said he had a huge hug for his son.

For someone who has 27 years of experience with Warsaw Schools at the end of this school year, Dennis said his case was unique in that he was an unlikely person to go into education. He had a negative experience during his own school years in Ohio. After high school, he took a "real world" job for a year. For a summer, he filled in as a fourth-grade Sunday school teacher. He found he liked it, and started school at Grace College.

Life also led him to become an administrator. While Dennis was still a Warsaw teacher, a principal took a leave of absence to teach school in Japan. Dennis filled in. Though he expected to go back into the classroom to teach, that never happened after one thing led to another. Before becoming Jefferson's principal, Dennis served as a Washington teacher, Atwood and Silver Lake principal and WCHS dean of students.

Though Emily is following in her father's footsteps, she's had her friend Nathan Polston nearby for many years. They went to preschool together. Emily, like Nathan, graduated from WCHS in 2002, and from Indiana Wesleyan in May. While Nathan teaches fourth grade at Leesburg, Emily teaches second grade.

But unlike Nathan, Emily said she always knew what she wanted to do. "Ever since I was little, I always knew I wanted to be a teacher," she said.

Growing up, Emily would use her dolls as her students. Being with her dad gave her an opportunity to be around school. "My dad was my biggest influence," she said.

And she said she always knew God had given her a gift to be with children.

Dennis said even when Emily was just a baby, he and his wife would take Emily to school with them so he could do his lesson plans. As soon as she was able to, Emily started acting like a teacher.

"It's just kind of special," he said.

Krishna, a fourth-grade teacher, didn't grow up in Warsaw, but teaching in the community since 2003, she said she plans to stay awhile.

"It's a great community, great system," she said.

Krishna attended Penn High School, Mishawaka, but graduated from Bishop Leuers, Fort Wayne. After graduating from Purdue University in 2003, she landed a sixth-grade teaching job at Jefferson for a year. She then moved to Madison.

Having her mom in education, Krishna said, influenced her to become a teacher, but a second-grade teacher helped her decide to be one. She and her mom aren't the only educators in the family though. Her dad is a coach and teacher. Her brothers are teachers as are all but one sister-in-law. And Krishna's fianc teaches at Leesburg.

When the family is all together, "education just dominates our conversations," Krishna said.

"I was proud of them," Cathy said about her children becoming teachers. The only advice she said she gave them was to work hard.

"She has a lot of good advice," said Krishna. "She just doesn't like to talk about it."

But Cathy will talk about staying with Warsaw for awhile. "I like it here," Cathy said. "It's progressive." [[In-content Ad]]