Every teacher at Mayfair Middle and High School has one goal: to teach. They strive long and hard to make sure every student under their care gets the best understanding of the curriculum and the best opportunities in life. It’s not just students that should live their best lives though, teachers want that luxury too. After an expansive journey of teaching, Ms. Parks will finally be able to retire and experience that leisure.
Ms. Parks has been working at Mayfair for 30 years. Her love of teaching started off with a simple question from her little sister: “Why doesn’t my teacher explain like this?” Ever since that phrase hit her, she wanted to mentor, saying she could “explain it better than anybody else.”
Ms. Parks does her best to be funny and engaging, but on her own time, she prefers to spend time with her family or at home. Her space is hers and she’ll know better than to let anyone crowd her. It’s the luxuries in life that she enjoys the most after all. Even then, she never fails to charm and click with everyone around her no matter how often Ms. Chick insists that the two are opposites. Give Ms. Parks a good five minutes and she’d hit it off with anyone.
Starting off as a student at Mayfair herself, she soon found herself coaching at Santa Ana College. Her first job teaching was at St. Anthony High School, a private, Catholic school in Long Beach, California. However, she didn’t find it satisfying, she wanted to go to a public school. When she found out that Mayfair was hiring, she took up the opportunity quickly and had never looked back since and openly expresses that she loves teaching here. Still, she says retirement “can’t come soon enough.”
Despite all of the good that has come out of teaching, she finds herself “frustrated with all the other things” that come with being a teacher. Disrespectful students and the lack of consequences are two things that she’ll never miss. At the end of the day, she’s still a person.
Ms. Chick says, “Do the things in life that will get you ahead, not the things that will set you back.” After Ms. Parks retires, she has big plans ahead of her and looks to live her life to the fullest. Maybe you will find her on YouTube explaining technology for old people. Maybe she’ll find a passion for making music. Whether it’s hitting the big slots on the road or enjoying the luxury of homelife, she will always love teaching, so long as it’s done better than anybody else.
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