As I begin my fifth year of retirement and renew my commitment to Mrs. Snider's Network, I must answer the question: " Am I still Passionate about Education?" The immediate answer from where I sit is "YES!" Yet, to YOU, how would you know by my absence since 2019? Without a doubt, YOU don't have a clue. I won't take the lame excuse and blame the pandemic. Nope! That wasn't it at all.

I suppose I will start with the old saying: "You teach best what you most need to learn." Let's say that this saying isn't quite true. When you are in the midst of learning, it can be like the center of a CAT 5 tornado; you seriously do not have the time to broadcast the learning, you must act and hope your immediate students will follow your lead. Then, when the storm passes, you can educate in a larger venue and deepen your learning by building upon the realia of your experience. 

My passion for education caught up with me in September 2023; my husband arranged for my retirement party which morphed into our going away party because we were moving to Florida. The event was at Karl Ross Post 16, our American Legion Post. It was an amazing evening, filled with a lifetime of family, friends, former colleagues, and former students. Stockton Mayor, Kevin Lincoln II, honored me with a city proclamation for my service as an educator in the community.  Yet, it was his son, Kevin Lincoln III, who made a profound impact on everyone present when he let me know that there was this one lesson to complete. I told Kevin, if he could get me a way his graduation, I'd come; together, he and I would bring his 8th grade U.S. History classmates home for their high school graduation.  
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That unfinished lesson started the first week of 8th grade in 2019 when these young people began a simulation that transformed them into the immigrants of 1620. They were able to take their backpacks and what they were wearing as they embarked on this adventure. With their eyes closed, the virtual field began with a trip to Travis Air Force Base, a leap from a C17 in New England, and a landing that initiated a very extended episode of Survivor. 

Students opened their eyes, saw an image on a SmartBoard about where s/he landed. The instructions now were to create on paper his or her individual survival campsite using what they had in their backpacks and on their back. The next student was at least 50 miles away. AND, there were no cellphones! That was August, 2019. ​

Each quarter, we revisited this lesson. When students returned from Fall Break, they needed to consider that winter was coming; what preparations need to be made for the next two months. In January, students saw that there was snow on the ground and food was scarce; how are they doing half way through the year. Then, in March, 2020, after Spring Break, students and teachers were at home, finishing the year via Zoom and doing assignments virtually using Google Classroom. At the end of the year, students waved goodbye from cars and I retired. I completed my five year plan without finishing that one lesson. ​

​Fast forward to May of 2024, Kevin worked all year on securing me a pathway. Yet, as a student , he could only go so far. At that point in early May I learned what it took to finish that one lesson; I had to call the district superintendent. I am thankful to Lodi Unified School District Superintendent, Neil Young, who understood the need for not only Bear Creek High School Students to remember their incredible journey, but students at all high schools needed this special closure; he provided my ticket to graduation.