As the end of the 2010-2011 school year approached, many students were preparing to leave Walpole High, the classes, and the teachers behind for the summer. Yet, not everyone is coming back to school in the fall—one of Walpole High’s teachers, Ms. Suzanne Puricelli, is retiring.
Ms. Puricelli, often called “Ms. P,” is the business teacher at Walpole High, and she teaches classes such as Computer Applications I and II and Consumer Finance, among others. Not only has she taught solely at Walpole High for 7 years, she has taught for a whopping 37 years. Adding to her diversity, she does not just teach many classes, she also has taught at 6 other schools in her career.
Many are unaware of the process of retirement — noting this, Ms. Puricelli knows that only teachers will understand the reason why she is retiring: because she got to the retirement plus and was at her maximum. “It’s a really weird feeling,” she said, in regards to her retirement as a whole. And it’s a big deal — going from working all day to having to keep yourself busy all the time is not necessarily an easy thing to do. When describing the emotions she feels at retiring, Ms. Puricelli said, “Lots,” but specifically “happy, sad, relieved.” And as she was giving final after final, she inched closer and closer to her last day.
While many students know what it’s like to be attached to their teachers, it’s even more difficult for Ms. Puricelli, having to say goodbye to the plethora of students she has had over the years at Walpole High. “There are really good kids here,” said Ms. Puricelli, adding that the students are who she will miss the most. But her fellow teachers won’t be forgotten — Ms. P believes that there are good teachers here too. “It’s fun here,” she said.
And when a teacher that has been a part of Walpole High for so many years is retiring, students have something to say. “Ms. Puricelli has taught me a lot about life skills that I’m going to need outside of school, and she was a great asset to Walpole High,” said sophomore Deirdra Chapman, one of Ms. P’s many students. But the business teacher is not done yet — Ms. P continued making students laugh, learn, and type, right up until her last final was graded, when she will say goodbye to Walpole High. “I know I’m going to miss most of this,” she said. “But I won’t know it until August.”
It is safe to say that her retirement will not only affect Ms. P, but those that she dealt with in her daily life. And while it will be hard to replace her, it is easy to be happy for her. She worked at Walpole High for a significant amount of years, and when she is done teaching, she will be enjoying her hobbies, among those being sewing and gardening. “I like to be outside,” she said.
Ms. Puricelli, commonly known to her students as ‘Ms.P,’ is retiring after 37 long years of teaching many different students at many different schools. “She will be missed at Walpole High,” said sophomore Julianne Saia, also in one of her Consumer Finance Classes. And that really sums up the entire bittersweet feeling of retiring- saying goodbye to the work and the kids and hello to an open schedule. But Walpole High is the one who is suffering the bigger loss, for it is losing a teacher who, for seven years, has helped Walpole High kids and enriched them in business skills that will leave a lasting mark.
