Interventions program assistant for guided studies Rosalie Walton:

Following four years of teaching Guided Studies, a class that supports students with extra tutoring, Walton said she is retiring this year due to her age. 

Guided Studies started when Walton joined as the first teacher for the class. Walton said there is room for the program to expand, and she hopes the class will be utilized to help more students after her departure.

“I am going to miss this job. I’ve been telling everybody, I wish this job had existed five to 10 years earlier, and I could have had that much more time with it,” Walton said. “Students seem to react well to my type of pushing them. They inspire me to push them in a sense, and in turn, I see their progress over time because they keep coming back. That inspires me and motivates me to want to do it more.”

In her 15 years of working with students, Walton said she fondly remembers the students she has instructed and connected with.

“It’s so fulfilling to see students grow, and there are so many stories that inspire me to be a better person, stick with my own things when I want to give up,” Walton said. “It’s a wonderful mutual relationship, because they’re getting things from me, but I’m getting just as much back from seeing students stick with things that are difficult for them, with so many outside challenges that they have to deal with.”

Business teacher Graeme Logie:

After 25 years of teaching, Logie said he is following through on a decision he made several years ago to retire at the age of 65.

In college, Logie said he was mildly interested in teaching but chose to venture into the private business industry instead. After being laid off and struggling to find a new job, Logie said he interviewed to be a teacher in hopes of a more stable career.

“[Teaching] is a grueling job the first couple of years, but then you get the rhythm,” Logie said. “It was the right decision. I look back at what I’ve done and how many students I’ve reached in my career. There are some that still come back and reach out to see how I’m doing.”

As an adviser and Bay Section director for FBLA, Logie said the club has provided him with many gratifying moments.

“You see lots of kids grow up and become doctors, lawyers or business people,” Logie said. “I had some part in that. It may not have been directly where they ended up, but [I] may have lit a fire to pursue something.”

Reflecting on his career, Logie said one of his crowning accomplishments is the vast growth of the business department, a testament to continuous staff dedication.

“I have my own way, but together, [business teachers] managed to connect with students for 24 years to get them to achieve great things,” Logie said. “We have built a department that’s strong and is looked upon as one of the best in the district, if not the region. To me, the legacy is what we built, and now, we are passing it on to people we trust.”

Chinese teacher Vivian Ju:

A full-time teacher at HHS since 2017 with 35 total years of experience in education, Ju said she is retiring this year for her health and age. With the extra time that comes with retirement, Ju said she plans to take music classes, volunteer in the community and travel.

Since beginning as a teacher, Ju said her foremost goal has been to genuinely inspire students while teaching Chinese. Specifically, Ju said she tries to approach students as whole individuals and bond with them while deepening their understanding of the language and culture.

“My goal was really to make Chinese fun. I don’t want students to think, ‘Chinese is so difficult and boring,’ [and] they are forced by their parents to come and take Chinese because it’s their heritage, or it will be useful later on in their life,” Ju said. “I wanted to help them see Chinese culture and language from a different perspective.”

In addition to teaching, Ju said she advises four clubs, including NCHS and TSA. Ju said she is pleased to see members embrace Chinese culture at campus events such as annual C-Nights, an event in which she played a major organizational role.

When Chinese classes were at risk of being cut from the language department in 2023, Ju said she witnessed the strength of the community built around the program, with students and parents advocating for its continuation. From all the work she has done, Ju said the most memorable part of the job is the love  and recognition she receives from the people she reaches.

“I’m very blessed to have the opportunity to serve the HHS community,” Ju said. “My students [and] the parents have given me a lot, and I feel so grateful. They really make my life fun, rewarding and fulfilling.”

French teacher Muriel Von Stein:

Concluding 21 years of teaching at HHS, Von Stein said she is retiring to spend more time with her two daughters, who both live and study in Germany.

Originally a pharmacist in Germany, Von Stein said she pivoted to teaching after moving to the United States because her diploma did not transfer over.

As the transition gave her the opportunity to teach diverse curricula for French, Von Stein said she was grateful she could bring students up to that level of advanced discussions, encompassing topics such as philosophy.

“To see the growth in students is really amazing,” Von Stein said. “I love that, and that’s something that I’m going to miss. For example, I have my French 1 and 2 [classes] now, and I know some of them are going to really fly and be super professional.”

Capping off her career, Von Stein said the most impactful lesson she has learned is to support students in their struggles.

“In the beginning, when students wouldn’t do homework, my thinking was, ‘He doesn’t care,’ ‘He doesn’t want to’ and ‘They don’t make an effort,’” Von Stein said. “Very quickly, I’ve learned there is always a story behind the student. No student would come into a class saying, ‘I’m going to be in trouble with my teacher because I didn’t do the work or because I’m not paying attention.’ There is much more behind the facade.”

Editor’s note: Art teacher Edmond Kwong and paraeducator Miao Carroll declined interviews to appear in this article but will also be retiring at the end of this school year.