By Blair Guild
Mrs. Nancy Clark has plans to retire this year, completing her twenty year employment period at Hopkinton High School. During those twenty years she has brought unforgettable teaching skills, leadership, and overall excellence to the high school.
“I’ve always loved history and teaching just seemed to fit my personality,” said Mrs. Clark, History teacher and Curriculum Team Leader for History and Social Sciences at Hopkinton High School.
Since she started working at the high school, Mrs. Clark has become a major part of the history department, students’ lives, and the HHS community. In addition to teaching, she coaches Girls Varsity Tennis and is the faculty advisor for Student Council.
“I’m ready to retire. I’m looking forward to it but I know I’ll miss school,” explained Mrs. Clark.
Mrs. Clark said that above all else, she will miss her students.
“Hopkinton has a great bunch of kids. I love students and I love working with them,” she added.
Mrs. Clark will not just miss her students, her students will miss her as well. Many have expressed that they will be sad to see her officially retire.
“Mrs. Clark is really special to a lot of students,” said Maddie Oleson, a student of Mrs. Clark’s AP United States History course. “Most of her students have had her for two years in a row now, so it will be emotional to see her leave,” she added.
The sentiment that Mrs. Clark will be missed is felt by nearly everyone who came to know her, including teachers. Garrett Sawyer, a co-teacher of the AP US History course, expressed how he will miss Mrs. Clark very much once she has retired.
“She’s helped me a lot as a teacher but also plays a really important roll keeping the history department together,” explained Mr. Sawyer.
Mrs. Clark has made many plans for her retirement. She plans to do more volunteer work, read more often, travel to see her family and grandchildren, and play more tennis and golf. Most importantly though, she says history will always remain a part of her life.
“Contemporary United States History is my favorite. I love anything from World War Two and on. Partially because it’s my life. I grew up during such a great historical time,” explained Mrs. Clark.
Mrs. Clark says that she will be able to look back at her years spent teaching with fond memories, “One of my favorite memories of teaching is just the general sense of comradery between the AP US History students. Every year they make t-shirts and get excited about taking the AP test, I’ll miss that”.
Mrs. Clark still cares about the future of the history department, offering her words of wisdom that “teachers try to challenge their students and students try to challenge themselves.”
A replacement teacher has yet to be hired, but the position is open. The new teacher will have big shoes to fill because Mrs. Clark has left such a lasting impression on Hopkinton High School. She will be dearly missed by the staff and students of HHS during her retirement.
