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Back to high school

A few weeks ago, I was covering a banquet and happened to be seated at the same table as the lovely young woman who sang the National Anthem. During dinner conversation, one of the other people at the table asked me how long I had worked at the newspaper. I told them that it will be 22 years in July.

“22?” piped up the young woman. “I’m 22!”

At that point, I felt as if I should pack up my Geritol, hitch my pants up to my armpits, and go check myself into an assisted living facility.

But, guess what? I’m going back to high school instead!

Each year, during Teacher Appreciation Week, our local school board draws the name of one teacher from each of our county schools, and school board members substitute teach for a day and give the lucky educator the day off.

The trouble is, there aren’t as many available school board members as there are schools, and so the school superintendent or other officials sometimes pitch in to help.

I cover the school board, and last year they asked me if I wanted to participate, and maybe get a first-person story out of the experience for the newspaper. I was interested, but I had a schedule conflict.

This year, they asked again, and so on May 7 — my last full day as a 44-year-old — I will be teaching Claudia House’s senior and advanced placement English classes at Central High School. The AP classes will have been talking about satire, and so I will probably talk a little bit about my experiences with The Wittenburg Door. Claudia has encouraged me to share my life experiences, such as my mission trips, with the seniors (in a non-prosletyzing way, of course, talking about the relief aspect and the importance of cultural dialogue).

Claudia was chosen at random, but having a substitute teacher that day will enable her to participate as a parent in one of her child’s school activities. So it’s a win-win situation all around.

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