With her parents' encouragement, Profesora Láhtinen graduated from Bremerton High School a semester early and went to Gualeguaychú, Argentina, to live with her cousins and attend their all-girls Catholic school as an exchange student for a year. It completely changed the course of her life.

When she returned to the US, she earned her degree in Spanish at the University of Washington and then went to Sonobe, Kyoto, Japan, to teach English for two years in a high school housed in a 1200 year-old castle! She and her husband took five months to return to Washington state, traveling through Bali, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Mongolia, Russia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, England, Scotland, Portugal, Spain, and Argentina.

After earning her Master in Teaching degree from UW, she raised two wonderful children and then returned to teaching. She spent five years teaching Spanish in grades 1-8 at Madrona Waldorf School on Bainbridge Island, and six years teaching Spanish 1 and Spanish 2 at Bainbridge High School. This is her second year teaching Spanish at Woodward Middle School.

When she's not teaching or reading or playing Settlers of Catan or Mario Party with her family, Profesora Láhtinen sings with Byway and Schola Nova on Bainbridge and The Esoterics in Seattle. She also enjoys traveling. She and her family spent July 2019 in Europe seeing the highlights in Edinburgh, London, Paris, Vienna, Rome, Valencia, Granada, Ronda, Sevilla, Córdoba, and Madrid and had a great time! In the future she hopes to revisit Scandinavia and Japan, visit India and the Middle East, hike one of the pilgrimage routes of the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain, have a Waldorf teaching adventure in Argentina, and finally get to visit and explore México and the countries south of it.

This summer, Profesora Láhtinen spent six weeks visiting all of her cousins in Argentina, from Chaco to Patagonia, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the arrival of her grandparents to Argentina from Austria. 

She is looking forward to working with you to help you achieve your goals!