Benjamin Rizzo
Sheri Lehavi is happy to spend her mornings teaching math at Pierce College.
It is now 6:40 a.m.
The grass outside is soaked with a cool morning dew as the sun yawns and stretches its arms to the sky, still groggy from yet another good night’s sleep.
Inside the Math Building, in Room 1416, Lehavi and her Elementary Algebra students are solving algebraic inequalities and graphing x and y axes.
Isn’t it a little early to be finding solutions for the variable? Nonsense!
“I picked this schedule on purpose,” said Lehavi, who in addition to her two daily morning sessions instructs a Thursday night Trigonometry class from 7 to 10:10 p.m.
“It’s very flexible,” she said. “I have little kids at home. Before you know it, it’s 9:30 a.m. I’m home by 10:30 or 11 a.m. and I get to play with my kids.”
“I get at least paid to be there,” Lehavi said. “There’s actually students here paying to be there, that’s even weirder.”
Lehavi is the proud mother of three young children, splitting her time between career and family.
Although this is her first semester as a full-time instructor, Lehavi is by no means new to Pierce. She has been teaching here part time for four years, with one class each semester in the evenings.
A Calabasas High School graduate, Lehavi, 38, said she always liked math growing up. While in school, she was influenced by female math teachers, glorifying the profession at an early age.
Both of her aunts are teachers as well, so it seems she was destined to become one herself.
After high school, Lehavi attended the University of California, Berkeley for her undergraduate studies, and California State University, Northridge for her master’s in mathematics.
When asked if she partook in any of the counterculture or spent any time living in the trees at Berkeley, Lehavi replied, “I owned a tie-dyed shirt and a pair of Birkenstocks, but that’s as far as that went.”
One might wonder where a sense of accomplishment comes from teaching mathematics.
“It’s rewarding when a student comes up to me and says, ‘Wow, now I get this, you make it sound so easy,'” Lehavi said. “It’s also rewarding when they do well.”
In dealing with math anxiety, Lehavi said, “There’s a phenomenal amount of resources here. Right off the bat, I let classes know about these resources.
“The problem with most students is they are already self-defeated and don’t know how to study.”
Student praise of Lehavi’s teaching practices wasn’t hard to find.
“She is a very good teacher,” said Hansel Castillo, 18, who makes the commute from North Hollywood every morning. “Very patient, very energetic.”
“We actually learn,” said Juan Valles, 18, who also comes from North Hollywood.
On the home front, Lehavi’s time is consumed with a girl, 5, and two boys, 2 and 4. Whatever time she does find for herself, Lehavi said she loves to use it to bake cakes and cookies.
In talking about movies, Lehavi mentioned director Zack Snyder’s epic, “300,” which came out this summer on DVD. She remarked on the amazing physique of most of the soldiers and their incredible abs, only to be disappointed to find out most of the movie, and the abs, were computer enhanced.
“Women actresses have to get boob jobs, while men get to be computer-enhanced. That seems wrong,” said Lehavi. “It was a good movie, though.”
In love, Lehavi married a soldier of her own and her husband, a native of Israel, was once a member of the Israeli army.
In fact, Lehavi lived in Israel for a time, calling Motza, a suburb of Jerusalem, home for a year.
When asked if she witnessed any of the bloodshed Americans associate with that part of the world, Lehavi was quick to point out this was not the case. Israelis even asked her if she was afraid to walk on the street in Los Angeles, illustrating their view of this part of the world.
Over winter break, Lehavi plans on spending as much time as possible with her kids. Also, she will be learning how to teach an online class, for which she showed real excitement.
As a success in both family and career, Lehavi was asked what advice she might offer to Pierce students.
“You should try and stay focused on goals and follow through with commitments,” said Lehavi. “Once you decide to do something, make it a priority to put 100 percent into it.”
If there is any doubt as to what the professor means, students can schedule Math 115 at 6:40 a.m. Monday through Thursday and witness it firsthand.
Sheri Lehavi, now a full time teacher, relaxes in her office at Pierce. (Nick Carey)