With each new school year there are new faces present at AHS in the form of students and teachers alike. However, with each passing year and each fresh face there are also many people who leave AHS and move on to the next step in their lives. Seniors will graduate and teachers will retire. This group of driven, dedicated people who call AHS their home will never be the same.
This year, AHS is losing many familiar faces, including, physics teacher Thomas Chorman, US-VA History teacher Gregory Reed, Topics teacher Mary Richardson and Assistant Director of Student Activities Dick Adams.
There are many reasons for a teacher to not come back the next year. For example, Chorman is going back to graduate school to get his Masters Degree in engineering.
“I want to go back to grad school because I miss engineering,” Chorman said. “I want to gain more experience in engineering that I can then bring back into the classroom.”
It is very hard for a teacher to leave after becoming so connected to a school. This is why AHS has so many long-time teachers, including Reed, with 16 years, Adams, with 31 and Richardson with 13.
“I really enjoy the community feel that [we] have at Annandale,” Reed said.
AHS is more than just a school. The students and teachers make this a community. This community gives people a lot of things to look back on later.
“I’m really going to miss it here,” Chorman said. “I know that this is a really awesome school to teach at, and I know when I go back to teaching that it will be hard to find a place as good as this.”
Despite strong reasons to stay, the teachers will go on to do other things. After retirement, many teachers travel the world or get part time jobs.
“I’m going to enjoy the break from full-time work,” Reed said. “I’ll probably work part-time, and I might end up subbing.”
Each of these teachers has left their mark on their students as well as the faculty of this school.
“Mr. Reed was a very good teacher who was very passionate at teaching,” junior Francisco Lam said. “It gave me inspiration to try harder in classes.”
These are very dedicated staff members who will be sorely missed at AHS both in school and out of school at sporting events.
“He would always be there at every football game, he was very dedicated to the sports program, as well as Annandale itself,” Lam said.
AHS has left it’s mark on these teachers the same as their years of teaching have left their mark on it.
“I learned a lot about what good teaching is and I made a lot of good memories,” Chorman said.
“I enjoyed working with the kids, I really am going to miss being around the school” Reed said.
No matter where you come from, or why you come here, or where you go after, AHS will have an effect on you. It has some effect on everyone who steps through its doors.
“I went to another Fairfax County school, and I consider myself an Atom,” Reed said.
