If you haven’t been down the science hallway this year then you may not have met one of Cascade’s newest family members, Mr. Leineweber.

The correct way to say his name, as he explains, is to think of a line of Weber grills. If that is too tough to remember you can also refer to him as “Mr. L” or “Captain.”

Mr. Leineweber grew up in Chicago where he says his father taught him how to “value and experience life even more.” It was a combination of this and his friends in college that pushed him towards an education career.

Mr. Leineweber is a very credible teacher, having studied at more than eight different colleges across the nation. Some of these include Indiana University, Appalachian State University, Mississippi State University and the University of Indianapolis.

He graduated with a BS in Secondary Education for Physics, a MS in Geoscience, a MA in Administrative Leadership and even an MA in Family Counseling.

If this isn’t impressive enough he is also the president of the Indiana Earth Science Teachers’ Association and has won numerous awards at the State and National level. He plans on teaching Earth Science next year and says that “All of the sciences are important; but we live on Earth, so we all need to study it.”

He has not only taught multiple science classes, but has also taught a wide variety of mathematics classes, art classes and PE. When asked what his favorite part about teaching was he said that “working with teenagers” was a major part of it.

Besides being an amazing physics teacher, Mr. Leineweber is happily married and a father to five children. When he is not teaching, he enjoys activities such as motorcycle racing, snowmobiling snow skiing and boating.

While on his boat, some of his other fun comes from knee-boarding, wake surfing, water skiing and even barefoot water skiing, which was something on his bucket list. He plans on spending much of the spring and summer on and behind his boat.

Another interesting fact about Mr. Leineweber is that he enjoys tinkering and creating new things. Last semester his physics class created their own metal detecting devices. Although some did not work, the experience was very rewarding.

When discussing his classes, Mr. Leineweber believes in pushing his students towards being successful while still enjoying the class. This semester he is asking his students to pick a topic they are interested in and explore it in depth in order to become experts and explain the physics behind it.

Senior Garry Gill described this semester-long project as “being very cool since I can learn more about cooking.” Gill has always been interested in cooking, and he now has the ability to take a semester long class not only over it but the science behind it.

Any student who might need a science class next year, or simply is in need of help in a class should definitely see Mr. Leineweber. He is a well versed man who is always standing outside his door waiting to teach more students.