The 2010-2011 school year is approaching its end and unfortunately so are the careers of some dedicated and talented teachers, who have decided to retire after many years of service at Prairie Ridge High School. Therefore, as this school year comes to a close, Prairie Ridge will be saying good-bye not only to the class of 2011 graduating seniors but also to four wonderful faculty members. These retiring faculty members are: Mrs. Haas from the Social Science department, Mrs. Kopera from the front office, Mr. O’Leary from the Science department, and Mrs. Spillner from Guidance.

Retiring teachers, Prairie Ridge wants you to know that we greatly appreciate your dedication and work as teachers and faculty members, and we are sad to see you leave. ! The school will not be the same without you. We will miss you! We also wish you the best of luck in your retirement and with any future plans!

Mrs. Haas
Saying good-bye to Mrs. Haas, the school says good-bye to a brilliant Social Science Department Chair, who has taught students everything from Ancient Civ to Modern World. After 23 years of teaching, 14 of which she spent at Prairie Ridge, Mrs. Haas is trading in her career as a teacher for the life of a retiree. She originally pursued the career and began teaching, wanting “to help students become good citizens of their community, state, country, and the world, believing that education […] is the way to make your life better and the world better.” Now as she leaves Prairie Ridge, she will miss the wonderful Social Science department, the great students, the great friendships, and teaching in a field she enjoys and loves. Taking with her an infinite amount of memorable experience, she will gladly leave behind the alarm heard at 5:30 a.m. everyday. Revealing her plans for retirement, Mrs. Haas expressed her hopes to “travel, move to the Southwest, help [her] husband in his art business […] perhaps teach part time at a 2-year college.” She would love to find the time to “join a library book club, visit museums, and take part in organizations that [she] has not had the chance to join.” At the and of august, when the 2011-2012 school year begins and the hallways of Prairie Ridge once again bustle with life, Mrs. Haas plans to be enjoying a road trip to “Montreal, Ottawa, and other places to and from these destinations.” Leaving the school, she wants student to remember the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt- “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”- and the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.- ‘The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge.”

Mrs. Kopera
As Prairie Ridge says good-bye to Mrs. Kopera, the school will be parting with an amazing faculty member, whose work in the front office has helped keep the principal and the school organized and running smoothly. She has been at Prairie Ridge since the school opened, and when asked about her greatest accomplishment in the course of her career at P.R., Mrs. Kopera replied, “Being a part of such a wonderful place.” She will really miss “the staff, the students, and the parents.” The extreme generosity of the staff and students in helping each other and charitable organizations will continue to influence her forever. When asked about her most memorable experience at the school, Mrs. Kopera replied, “My first day at P.R. when there were no roads, no furniture, no phones, and the construction crew was in the building finishing things up so we could have an open house in August.” Now as she eases into retirement, Mrs. Kopera will keep these memories in mind as she begins a new lifestyle, hoping to “spend more time with family and friends.”

Mr. O’Leary
As Mr. O’Leary retires, Prairie Ridge will lose a fantastic science teacher and faculty member. Having taught for 33 years, 14 spent at P.R. and 19 years spent at C.L.C, Mr. O’Leary will walk away from teaching with an immense amount of experience, memories, and knowledge. Originally, however, teaching was not a part of the plan as he started college headed for medical technology. When or how the switch to teaching happened he does not know, but looking back, he is glad he made the switch because “teaching and coaching has allowed [him] to have experiences [he] never would have had in medical technology.” Over the years, teaching and coaching has helped him become a more patient person, and it has helped him realize his impact on others. He has also learned to value experience and to learn from it, holding on to the positive things he has learned and attempting to eliminate the negative, “character defects.” Talking about the power of experience, he shared a very thought-provoking story about two businessmen talking, one was a young hot shot and the other was an older very successful business man nearing retirement- The young guy asked the old guy how he became so successful. The old guy said “good decisions.” The young guy wasn’t really satisfied so he asked, “How do you know when you are making good decisions?” Again, the older gentleman kept it pretty simple. “Experience.” By now the young guy was getting a little frustrated so he asked, “How to you get all the experience??” Once again, pretty simple, “bad decisions.” Accompanying Mr. O’Leary’s years of experience will be years of memories. His most memorable include the first three years coaching soccer when he was able to coach his son, who was on the team, and when the team was able to get to state tournament finals, finishing second in 1998 and winning a championship in 1999. Although Mr. O’Leary is not leaving P.R. permanently since he plans to continue coaching basketball, he will miss seeing the people working in the district now that he had in class or coached when they were in high school.When asked about his plans for the future, he revealed that he “[is] going back to school to get an associate degree, Veterinary Technician,” and he hopes he will not “have a lot of spare time [because] sitting around makes [him] tense looking for something to do.” He wants everybody to know that “the time spent in high school and college is the time in your life where you have the fewest really significant responsibilities and the fewest demands on your time. […] You are also developing habits that will stay with you for a LONG TIME, […] Don’t be afraid to do the next right thing even when nobody else in your circle of friends is willing to go along. […] Everyone deserves your respect and courtesy until they prove to you that they don’t. […] The people that come into or leave you world, the events that take place, both good and bad, it’s all for a reason.” As he leaves Prairie Ridge, Mr. O’Leary is confident that Prairie Ridge and District 155 will continue to impress and the students continue to succeed.

Mrs. Spillner
Sadly, as the end of the school year nears, Prairie Ridge High School’s Guidance Department will have to part with an incredible Director of Guidance, Mrs. Spillner. Having worked in education for 26 years, she has spent 23 of these years working in District 155. Working at P.R. since its opening in 1997, Mrs. Spillner feels “richly blessed to be around the energy of the P.R. students on a daily basis,” exclaiming that “any adult who is lucky enough to be surrounded by 1600 teens every day has to work hard to be an old stick-in-the-mud.” She is immensely proud of the team of individuals working in the Guidance department, and she expresses no worry leaving, knowing that the department is in good shape “thanks to the hard-working counselors, social workers, and support staff.” Once inspired to teach and work in education by her 10th grade English teacher Miss Virginia Hinchiff, upon retiring, Mrs. Spillner will greatly miss “[her] whole life […] the start of each new school year […] the feeling when summer vacation is over […] the start of the 2011-2012 school year.” She already plans to be out of town when the “big yellow buses start making their rounds,” but she is sure that she will come back and visit. When asked if there was anything she wished she could have done while working at P.R., Mrs. Spillner declared that she wishes she could have “seen to it that every single classroom, office, etc. in the school had a decent size and decent quality American flag,” and she wishes she would have “encouraged genuine reverence for the morning pledge each day.” Now, as she will enter retirement, she hopes to do more volunteer work, read more books, and visit more places. She is also very excited, knowing that she will become a grandmother for the first time in July, and therefore, she looks forward to getting acquainted with her new grandbaby. As she leaves Prairie Ridge, she wants every student to know that she “has every confidence in their future, [she] believes in them, [she] wants the best for them, [she] hopes they will stay in touch to let [her] know how they are doing in the future.”