Lahna Von Epps ’98
Sonora High Distinguished Grad, Class of ’98 Lahna Von Epps
Accomplishments
Lahna has been a math professor at Columbia College since 2009, teaching primarily Statistics, but also Trigonometry, the Calculus sequence, Math support courses, and pre-transfer-level Algebra. Her main focus and greatest source of satisfaction is being in the classroom with students.
During her tenure at Columbia College, she has participated in the hiring process for faculty positions, classified personnel, and even administrators. She is also involved with conducting peer evaluations for her colleagues, creating and modifying course curricula to address ever-changing state requirements, and has filled leadership roles in the Academic Senate. She was named Teacher of the Year in 2017.
She has found that being a professor at a small college means that there is always more to do and experience than she could possibly accomplish in an entire career, so she is pacing herself to ensure that she has a broad range of experiences and stays sharp as an educator.
What was your pathway to your current position?
Even though I was a top-ranking student at SHS graduation, I knew that I wanted to go to Columbia College as the next step in my education because I was familiar with it and the cost per unit was much less than any state college or university. At the time I was choosing between majors in theater and chiropractic, and was actively involved in local theater, worked in my parents’ horse-drawn carriage business, and was an aide at a physical therapy center.
Though warned against it by some, I was drawn to teaching. I began by tutoring a coworker in her algebra class, and soon had a group of her classmates who met with me during lunch to get free tutoring. The instructor heard about me helping her students and called me into her office. I was completely caught off guard when she offered me a job on the spot to be a classroom assistant so I would actually get paid for the work I was doing. The next semester
I was hired as a tutor in the Math Lab. I had always enjoyed learning, and found that math just made sense to me, but what I really enjoyed was the transformation that happened when a student went from being frustrated to being excited and relieved when they understood the problem after working with me.
In 1999, I started considering what would be needed to become a math professor at Columbia College. Once I knew that I needed a masters degree in mathematics and as much teaching experience as I could get, I fully committed to my goal. I took every math and physics class at Columbia College, along with every other class that interested me, and after three years was ready to transfer. Two years in a row I was named as a top student at Columbia. I only
applied to Cal Poly SLO, though I did hedge my bets a little and gave “theater” as my alternate, just in case I didn’t get selected as a math major, but my hard work paid off, and I moved to the central coast.
At Cal Poly I worked at a variety of jobs, including a campus dining hall, in custodial services, as a resident advisor, and, of course, as a math tutor while I earned my bachelor’s degree in mathematics over the next three years.
After graduation I began the Cal Poly masters program, but realized after one year that I wanted to focus on math education, and found the program I wanted at the University of Montana, Missoula. I had a number of outstanding teaching experiences while working on my graduate degree there, and was named “outstanding graduate student teacher of the year.” This honor, as well as my professional project, got me noticed by Carroll College in Helena.
Before my master’s graduation, I was invited for an interview for a one-year teaching position at Carroll College and was hired on the spot. During my year at Carroll College, I learned that Columbia College was hiring for a full-time math position. My dreams came true in May 2009, when I was offered the position that I had set out to get exactly one decade earlier.
Throughout my educational journey, I nurtured an interest in salsa dance, learning to an advanced level at Cal Poly and teaching it in Montana.
What memories do you have of Sonora High?
I spent so much time in the theater and green room that most of my high school memories are framed by green velvet curtains. Two theater productions a year, with all of their after-school rehearsals, and choir practice and performances meant I spent almost as much time in the theater as I did in all my other classes combined. Like most high school students, my fondest moments were those spent with my friends, people I’d known since grade school,
plus my new theater friends, and my cross-country team mates. I still correspond with most of these people today.
What future goals do you have?
To continue with my life’s work of supporting students in their connection with the world around them through a lens of measurement, calculation, and data analysis. To stay present while also making long term goals is always an area of improvement for me.
What advice would you give to current and future Sonora High students?
Try lots of new things and re-try things you’ve done before. Failure is a necessary step in being better at something. For example, I recently rediscovered watercolor painting, something that caused me much frustration in high school art class, but I am finding it a pleasure at this stage of my life. I’ve also done a lot of theater productions in grade school, high school, college and afterwards. Being a teacher is a lot like being an actor., and the skills I learned in the theater are what serve me best in my professional life.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
I focus on sustainable agriculture on my small property with chickens integrated into an organic vegetable garden. Fruit trees provide shade, chickens supply eggs and compost, and protect vulnerable plants from bugs. I like to kayak on all the local lakes and can easily spend the whole day out on the water. A rejuvenating day would find me hiking in the morning and hosting a dinner party in the evening or going out to the theater. I still occasionally
salsa dance, although the height of my heels has decreased significantly over the years. I love to read and have just become involved in a book club that has themed dinners using the book topic as inspiration for dishes.
