English teachers Dick Paaby, Susan Fisher, and math teacher Joseph Iacchei will all be retiring and leaving JC after this school year.
According to Paaby, who is now 65, his pension kicks in and he wants to “take it while he can get it.”
Most teachers in the public sector reach their retirement after working for 30 years, according to Paaby, but Paaby has now been teaching at JC for 38 years.
As for what he’ll do after he leaves JC, Paaby plans to catch up on his reading.
“I have a stack of books about a foot high that I haven’t had time to read,” Paaby said.
Along with reading, Paaby also aspires to garden, paint, refinish floors, and go on some backpacking and canoeing trips in the fall.
“I have so many projects to do that I’ve been putting off because I haven’t had the time,” Paaby said.
He also wishes to return to his boyhood hobby of owning and breeding tropical fish. Paaby is currently working on a 55 gallon aquarium tank stand made from wood which he got through cutting down trees on his property. He hopes that the tank will hold up to 45 different types of tropical fish.
“It’s sad [that he’s retiring] but I’m glad I had him once before it happened,” junior Jake Kahoe said. “I like him a lot like as a guy, but [his class] was really hard.”
For the past 21 years, Iacchei has also been teaching at JC. Throughout the years, he has taught various math and science courses such as Computer Science and Programming, Introduction to Computers, AP Physics, Algebra I and II, Calculus, and Math Analysis.
Iacchei plans to “retire for good.”
“I have been planning to do this for a few years now. I really want to spend more time with my family. It just happens to be the right time,” Iacchei said.
According to Iacchei, he has met “good students and great other teachers” while teaching at JC. “There’s too many memories. I don’t have only one good moment,” he said.
“I’m glad I got the privilege to be in one of Mr. Iacchei’s last classes. He has been working for so many years and deserves a break,” junior Emily Streett said.
As a teacher, Iacchei found his students were not the only ones learning. “I have learned every year from the students and teachers,” Iacchei said. “You’re learning how to learn.”
Throughout Fisher’s 19 years of teaching at JC, she has taught AP English 4 and American Literature for juniors as well as serving as a moderator for The Patriot.
Now, since she is retiring, she plans “on traveling on [her] boat, going to visit national parks, and babysitting [her] grandson, Luke.”
During her years at JC, she has lived vicariously through her students through their celebrations of Junior Ring Week and Senior Prom.
Fisher loves all of her students. “I treat them all like my children and always talk to them like adults,” she said. “I’m going to miss them all so much.”
Sydney Setree and Cailtin Wolfarth are News Editors for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.