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Every weekday, around 7:20 a.m., the senior positions herself at a console in the school's TV studio.
She controls the music and the audio levels for the student anchors and any video shown during the school news show.
"I get to choose the music to play in the morning," said Leanne, who often picks artists popular with students, such as Colbie Caillat and Taylor Swift.
"I try to choose a variety because I know people don't like listening to the same thing all the time."
Leanne has worked in the TV studio since her freshman year, first as a camera operator for three years and now as a sound technician.
She got her start in school broadcasting as a sixth-grader at Smoketown Elementary, when she served as an anchor for an in-house televised show.
"It was very exciting," she said. "I like talking in front of people."
Sometimes she's called on to fill in for a student unable to serve as anchor, and it's possible she may be scheduled to anchor toward the end of the year.
While she enjoys her stint in the studio, her main motivators are academics and a future career in medicine.
"I want to be a family physician," Leanne said. Her parents are Jeff and Lisa Lefever of Bird-in-Hand, and she has a younger sister, Kelly.
A career as a doctor appeals to this personable 17-year-old because "I love helping people. I love helping them through what I can do. …
"Since I enjoy science and math, I may as well go for it," she said.
Leanne is a National Honor Society member who is currently ranked second in her class of 308 students. Her courses include anatomy and physiology, honors calculus and advanced placement biology.
Because of her class schedule, she wasn't able to play flute in concert band and orchestra as she has for the past three years. In her freshman and junior years she also sang in chorus.
This past summer, she volunteered through Lancaster General Health, shadowing a licensed practical nurse at a family practice run by the hospital. As part of that, she was able to observe doctor-patient exams (with a patient's permission).
"It was a really great experience," she said. "I got to see firsthand what work I'm going to be doing. I definitely want to be a doctor after doing that."
Her dream would be to do humanitarian work for an organization such as Doctors Without Borders or in a mission field or perhaps an inner-city clinic. Her mastery of Spanish — she completed Spanish V and is doing extra study with her Spanish teacher this year — would suit her well to working in South America, she said.
"I want to go somewhere and help," she said.
In the meantime, she is researching several colleges, although Houghton College is her first choice so far.
At school, Leanne is part of the leadership of the Fellowship of Christian Students, an organization that meets once a week for worship, music and discussion. She is an active attendee of Keystone Evangelical Free Church in Paradise, where she is a member of the youth group and serves as a leader of the junior high youth group.
A frequent baby sitter, she also works two days a week as a receptionist at the Orchard Inn of Bird-in-Hand. "It's very nice," she said. "I can do my homework" when there are no guests to wait on.
Leanne participated in track and field as a freshman.
"I love running," she said. "It's a way to keep my stress level low. It's like my quiet time. My solace."
