Larned High School is proud to have so many new teachers, but we tend to forget about LHS’s experienced teachers. These people have taught for multiple years and are some of the most respected teachers at LHS. They walk through the halls with a sense of pride for what they do. Four of the teachers who have been here for a while are Mrs. Wilcox, Mr. Butler, Mr. Upson, and Mrs. Fitzpatrick. These four teachers have been at Larned for over fifteen years each and some have taught multiple subjects.

Mrs. Wilcox is our spanish teacher. She has been around LHS for 24 years and subbed 10 of those years. She has taught a couple different subjects mainly in history and geography before she became a Spanish teacher. When she was asked she talked about one of her favorite moments. She stated, “In one of my classes there was a girl, we talked about birthdays and parties and celebrations and found out this girl never had a birthday celebration.” She then talked about how her students celebrated the girl’s birthday. Showing how her students look up to her and take her lessons to heart. She shows her passion for teaching everyday, going above and beyond what she has to. She is such a special teacher, and it is a shame that this will be her last year teaching. When she was asked what she will miss most about teaching she responded instantaneously with: “The kids, I’m going to miss being with the kids and the fun there is being with kids. Kids keep me alive and they keep me young and I enjoy that interaction everyday.”  When her position gets filled, the person who takes it over will have some pretty big shoes to fill.

Mr. Butler has taught at LHS for twenty two years and in the district for thirty years. He taught at the youth facility when it was open for his first eight years. While in that position, he taught a ton of math classes from elementary math to advanced math.  He has always taught in math classes but originally went to college for a music major. When asked about why he switch to math he stated “The amount of work that I had to put in to the music area started making me resent music was getting to where I didn’t want to play piano anymore didn’t want to sing anymore and it that irritated me because I love music more than just about anything else and I absolutely refused to put myself into a position where I was going to hate music.” He loved his decision and never looked back. When asked about what advice he would give new teachers he said “Every time we’ve gotten a new teacher I’ve always made it a point to go and talk with them and I think I give them all the same advice, number one when you start off be firm, kids are going to push you. They’ve got to know there are boundaries. It’s okay to start strict and ease up, because you can never start soft and get harder.”

Mr. Upson is one of our talented history teachers and also a PE instructor.  He has been at LHS for around 20 years. He has taught a plethora of classes including health, geography, world history, PE 1, and PE 2. He was asked what his favorite moment or moments were while teaching he stated, “I don’t know there’s so many of them. When some of my kids have had real hard rough lives are actually able to graduate, that makes me real happy.” On the contrary his least favorite part of teaching, especially PE, is when kids get hurt in class. He puts in a lot of care and effort to make sure kids enjoy his class while still learning. When asked what advice he would give new teachers he said, “Stick with it. It will get better the more experience you get and don’t just give up on it. The good outweighs the bad.” He shows that he cares about the students he teaches more than any benefits he could get out of teaching or coaching.

Mrs. Fitzpatrick is one of our science teachers. She has taught 26 years and is starting her 27th year at LHS. Five of those years she was teaching half and half at the high school and middle school for PE. She has taught PE, health, geography, world history, economics, and her science classes. She has been teaching at the high school the longest out of any teacher currently. The only teacher that has more teaching years than she does is Mr. Butler. When she was asked what the worst experience of teaching was she said “ when we had a student die. We had a student die in a plane crash and she was in my class and it was very difficult.” She shows every day how much she loves teaching because of the kids. 

In conclusion, all of these teachers loved teaching because of the kids and what they meant to them. We are very lucky to have these teachers and when we have to unfortunately find replacements, they will all have a hard time living up to these teachers. The LHS newspaper wants to thank every single teacher old or new for the sacrifice, determination, and willpower that they show every day.