Saying Goodbye to Three DRSS Veterans

By Hiba Ahmad

This year, we happily welcomed many new faces to our team, and now we sadly say goodbye to a few teachers who have been with us for quite a few years now. Mr. Lydy, Ms. Tash, and Ms. Whitman-Allen are unfortunately moving on, and while we hope for the best for their future, we can’t help but wish they could stay! When asked about their times here, they seemed to all agree that STEM is a unique environment where they felt they had grown.

Ms. Tash

Ms. Tash stated that “My time here has been amazing. I’ve loved working here… and I’ve grown as a professional, and I really really enjoy the students at this school,” She smiled as she spoke, no doubt remembering the good times she had. Her fondest memories of the school are of the healthy living project, the cancer PSA projects, the school trip to Italy, and an incident with a duck during fitness one day. Ms. Tash says she will especially miss the students who she says “…are really motivated. They’re polite and respectful, and we can focus just on learning. I will miss the students the most. I think that our students here are one of a kind, and I just am going to miss them. I’m going to miss the questions that they ask, I’m going to miss their attitudes, which are always very positive.” We’re definitely going to miss you too! 

Mr. Lydy

Mr. Lydy only had positive things to share about the school as well, “It’s [my time at STEM] been great. It’s been really nice, every year has been a little different, so it’s nice because you know, one of the questions a lot of people ask is ‘don’t you get tired of teaching the same thing over and over again?’ but it hasn’t been the same for the last eight years.” He isn’t quite sure what he’s going to miss the most about the school, but he did state that his fondest memories were “…getting to do the projects during STEMmersion.” Stemmersion won’t be the same without you, Mr. Lydy!

Ms. Whitman-Allen

Ms. Whitman-Allen is the third veteran teacher who is leaving us this year, and while she’s excited for her new job, she is thankful for the opportunities she has had, as well as the staff. “I’ve had a lot of really incredible opportunities here, and mostly I valued the experience of working with the staff here because they’re extremely dedicated beyond what normal teaching staff are.” On what she’ll miss the most, she says: “Teaching can be pretty stressful and it’s such a relief to be surrounded by people who take it as seriously as you, and who find humor and joy in a really stressful job, so I will really miss my team of teachers, and also just the administrative team that provides a lot of support.” 

She takes a moment to think about her favorite memory, “It’s hard to pick one memory when there have been so many!” But she eventually recalls when she created a video in her first year of teaching at this school, where teachers danced in the background as students talked about the school. “We made that video of all the teachers dancing behind students when they didn’t know. And the last day of school when we played it for them in the cafeteria, they had no idea what was coming because the whole thing was a big surprise that was pretty hilarious. It was hilarious and also really touching because you could tell the students actually appreciated it and thought it was genuinely funny, they weren’t just laughing at us, we were all laughing together and it was pretty great.” We hope you can make more happy memories and awesome videos as you continue with your life!

We wish the best for our teachers, and we hope you all succeed in your new jobs!