“Leslie Pullen has had an incredible influence on my artistic career. Even to this day I have a difficult time shaking the habit of addressing her as Ms. Pullen. I had the pleasure of having Ms.Pullen as an art teacher for two years in high school, followed by a peer tutoring program where it was my first time working with her as a colleague. At our school everyone knew Ms. Pullen as the enthusiastic artist with a zest for life and massive curly hair! While I was attending university, she invited me to teach alongside her at a socio-economically challenged secondary school to appreciate the emotional power of art in students lives and give me a chance to see whether art education was a career path I wanted to follow. When I think back to high school, I really admired her honest and direct feedback, on top of loving her artwork. Sometimes when I look back on old artwork that I did in her class, I can really see how I improved and I know it was because of her. She always took time to assist me in various different ways and help to shape the artist I have become today. She never tried to make me draw or paint something I didn’t want to do. She believed in people tapping deep within themselves to find what drove their need to express creatively, or what she called ‘their raw energy’. This fuelled my passion for the arts and I often think it helped me choose to continue an art-based career. Fast forwarding to the present day, I am finishing my second semester of teachers college studying to be an art teacher. I have gone overseas and am currently studying at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia. I have found while I enter classrooms to teach, I think back to how I felt as a student and what I would want in an art teacher. I have been shaping my teaching style to how she made me feel as a student. But there is only one Ms. Pullen. I want her to realize, that even if she does not necessarily think so, she really did make a massive impact on my life and helped shape the career path I have chosen and has got me to where I am today”