by Lea Youngman
Math teachers Dave Wickenheiser and Lorena Mummert are retiring after this school year.
Wickenheiser said he has been “teaching at York Suburban for 35 amazing and enjoyable” years. He said that he will mainly miss getting to know the students, and watching them grow. In his free time, Wick mentioned that he will be golfing, exercising more frequently, volunteering, and taking care of his wife.
If there was any advice Wick could give to a new teacher, it would be to “understand that there is more [to teaching] than just 8am to 3pm, there’s before school and after school, making sure the students understand what they learned in class, it is about teaching the students to succeed.” Being able to work with students in and out of the classroom was what he enjoyed most about YSHS.
Wickenheiser is thrilled about his upcoming retirement so he does not have to do schoolwork and can go on more vacations without the stressful work. Flashing back to the first day at a new job, Wickenheiser was most afraid of not gaining the respect from his students, knowing that they were fairly close in age. He wanted to maintain an organized classroom, and have the students understand the behavior expectations in his class.
What inspired Wick to become a math teacher was his 7th math teacher. Math always came easy for Wick, he tutored in his freshman year of high school. Walking the stage with the seniors is one thing that Wickenheiser wants to do before his retirement. Many of his students request him to walk the stage with them on their special evening, Wick being honored by the request replied “it is about the students, it is their night.”
One thing that Wick would change about the the High School would be undoing all of the PSSAs and Keystone exams and just focus on schoolwork and learning new criteria so the students would not have to stress about a test that affects their high school performance.
Mummert has been teaching at the high school for 20 years. Since Mummert is a very busy woman, she will have to get used to not being as busy as she normally is when she retires. Mummert is thinking about moving way down south to Texas because that is where her family is. She may start another business, or do some tutoring for struggling students. She will mainly focus on spending time with her children and grandchildren.
“Try to always keep the students engaged in their learning, even though it is hard sometimes” is the advice she would give to a new teacher. Getting to know the students and people she works with is something that she enjoyed the most about her time here at York Suburban.
Mummert likes the fact that we have a flex period at the end of the day where she can meetup with individuals at the end of the day to help them understand the criteria she taught in class. Mummert absolutely loves the hot chocolate in the library and would like to thank Mrs. Kendrick who supplied the delicious hot chocolate on Friday mornings. For her upcoming retirement, Mummert will be spending more time with her grandchildren and be more apart of their adventures. Giving the students freedom until they mess up is something Mummert would like to change about the school.
Thinking back to her first day at a new job at a new district, Mummert was scared about the stereotypical name Suburban had “snob.” She realized that none of this was true when she got used to the district and how nice and welcoming the students and staff were at the high school. This busy woman became a math teacher because she was always good in math and psychology, but chose math because she had a lot of experience, for example, she took several math courses which she very much enjoyed. If there was one thing Mummert could do before she retires, it would be to do the polar plunge and the boat race at school. York Suburban thanks these two amazing teachers for their years of great teaching.