With a smile on her face and a cup of hot chocolate brewing in her new office coffee maker, Lisa Carponelli, instructor of communication studies, said that she is grateful to be at Simpson College.

“I’ve always been interested in teaching and I felt I had skills that I could bring and share with Simpson students,” said Carponelli. “As an anchor you are exposed to all facets of the newsroom.”

After working for 10 years as the main anchor at ABC-5 in Des Moines, Carponelli is now at Simpson helping students with her background knowledge in videography and video news.

“Simpson is embracing this new technology,” said Carponelli. “It’s really, really exciting. It’s just fun to be a part of.”

Many of the Simpson students, such as senior Brenna Abel, are excited about these new classes as well as having Carponelli onboard in the communications department.

“She’s just a really fun teacher,” said Abel. “You can tell that she has a lot of passion for what she does. Her class is great because she really knows what she is talking about because of all of the professional experience that she’s had. It’s really cool that I’ve seen her on TV before and now she’s in our classroom.”

Carponelli also has positive feelings about the students that she has worked with in the past couple of weeks at Simpson.

“I’ve been blown away by the caliber of the Simpson students,” said Carponelli. “They are eager, hardworking and it’s really a joy to be working with them.”

While Carponelli enjoys her new job at Simpson, she leads a very busy lifestyle when she isn’t working. Whether it is spending time with her 2-year-old daughter Reese or climbing Mt. McKinley, you can always find Carponelli keeping herself active.

“My greatest joy is spending time with my daughter,” said Carponelli. “It’s amazing to watch her grow and develop.”

While most of her free time is spent with Reese, Carponelli also finds time for other leisure time activities.

“I am an outdoors person,” said Carponelli. “This summer I competed in a couple triathlons but I also enjoy skiing, snowboarding and climbing with my husband.”

According to Carponelli, she’s learned a lot in the past couple of weeks since starting at Simpson and admits that the move has been a great career move for her.

“My advice to students would be to take the leap,” said Carponelli. “That’s really what it feels like I did when I changed careers. It’s scary in the beginning but so rewarding in the end.”