Meet Your Neighbor Jena Painter who grew up in Terre Haute, the daughter of Robert and Jennifer Painter.
She is a 1998 graduate of La Harpe High School. She attended Southeastern College for two years before transferring to Western Illinois from which she graduated from in December 2002.
After graduation she was a substitute teacher before taking a position with the Colchester School District as a Reading Improvement Aid.
She has also taught 4th grade at La Harpe and 1st grade in Peoria. She is now back with the LaHarpe School District teaching 5th grade.
Miss Painter has loved all of her students over the years, but prefers to teach upper elementary.
She is pleased to be back in the La Harpe community and close to her family again.
"I love the small town atmosphere. Everyone welcomed me back which has made the transition much easier.
"It is also nice working in a community where I know most of the parents already, and to have them show concern for how their children are doing.
"The best part of teaching is when you have been trying to get a student to understand something and just as you think there is no other way to explain it, the light bulb goes off and they finally get it."
In Jena's free time, she enjoys reading and decorating her new home. She also loves spending time with her family which includes her parents and her two older sisters, Michele (Dan) Oilar and Dawn (Chane) Combites who have two children Taylor and Grant.