RUMORS

A couple of teachers are telling who they think will be taking the early retirement incentive - I will be turning in the letter on Friday - not really ready, but probably necessary. I've had a good run for the 38 years I've been proud to teach at Hobart High School. Administration is making a decent offer that I can't afford to pass up. Has to be 12 of us or it's a no-go. I cry every time some one asks me, so I have to get under control. It's been 18 years since they've made any retirement offer; the $$$ crunch is going to be awful; we've been pretty much "guilt-ed" into turning in the letters (so no one gets R.I.F. letters); no one is indispensable, but I hate leaving my "babies."

I knew I wanted to teach since fifth grade - WHAT I wanted to teach changed often! I loved biology - especially genetics - and REALLY wanted to teach it. In 1967, technology was not what it is today; handicaps dictated WHAT you COULD do. (My eyesight was legally blind and my eyes don't "line up" - when I looked in a microscope, what I could barely see wasn't ever one picture - biology teacher was out of the question.) I began my college career in special education; changed to elementary education; switched to secondary English; changed to speech; ended up with speech, theatre, and English.

After getting my bachelor's and master's degrees, I started job hunting and interviewing. The summer of 1972, I interviewed all over the state of Indiana - Lawrenceburg one day and Hobart the next. I WAS GOING TO TEACH SOMEWHERE!

The first year I started at Hobart, I sat at meetings complaining how hot and stupid I was for wearing a blue, long-sleeved, polyester dress! (I now complain how cold it is in my air-conditioned room!) The second Saturday, at the laundromat, I met a lovely lady who noticed I was new. In speaking with her, we discovered that her son and I both starting teaching at Hobart - Steve Balash was at the junior high school, and I was at the high school. That Sunday, Cynthia Lach asked her mom if she could bring a new teacher to lunch; I never left Cyndi's mom's table! I remember thinking I'll only be here a few years and then move on. Thirty-eight years later, I'm sad to be finally "graduating."

That first year, I struggled to add grades by hand; a friend (math teacher) actually came and helped me! My parents gave me a re-conditioned calculator for Christmas that first year - it could add, subtract, multiply, and divide. It cost a fortune even though re-conditioned. Today, I could buy a solar powered one for a buck! Now, I act like the world will end if the computer goes down! Heavens forbid if I make an error in STI!

I have actually resided in only four different rooms in the past 38 years. I started in the old building in Room 104 (which eventually became the cardio lab); moved to Room 124 when the auditorium was built (there for 25 years); was moved to Room 101 between Leto and Swanke; and landed in Room 1303 in the new building. Every room was my "home" - probably spent more time at school than at home at times! I wanted my kids to be comfortable and also feel at "home."

I have taught Speech 1 and Advanced Speech all 38 years! Although the class is not required, probably 95% of the student body takes the beginning class (there aren't many one-semester classes, so it frequently becomes an alternative.) I was privileged to be theatre director for over 20 years. I have actually taught every English class at one time or another - in regular school, homebound instruction, summer school, or Challenge School.

(I have even taught English classes that no longer exist! These include Mass Media, Business English, ISTEP+ remediation, and FLIP.)
As I complete grade 56 (K-12 + 5 years ISU + 38 years HHS = 56) it seems fitting that I started Kindergarten during the 1955-1956 school year.

It has been an honor to have lived in Hobart and gone to school at HHS for 38 years. I have never "gone to work" - I "go to school" - and am glad that I'm leaving before it becomes WORK - at least that's how I will choose to look at it.

BE THERE!

MAKE THEIR DAY!

CHOOSE YOUR ATTITUDE!

PLAY!

ONCE A BRICKIE, ALWAYS A BRICKIE!