Spartan Scroll

by Anthony Ngov

Photo by Karen L

Teachers Diane Duffin and Lorraine Langevin will be retiring at the end of this school year, after teaching for a total of 71 years.

Duffin has taught a variety of subjects in her 28 years at Schurr, including nearly all subjects as a special education teacher, as well as American Sign Language.

“Having Ms. Duffin as a teacher was great because she was always willing to help out with any problems and she was almost like a second mom to me,” said junior Malaki Rios. “She taught me United States History, which taught me not only the importance of history, but how fun of a subject it is, and I will definitely miss her.”

Langevin taught reading improvement, fifth grade, G.A.T.E. program core subjects and choir for seven years at Macy Intermediate School. In her 36 years at Schurr, she has taught English 1-2, Algebra I, journalism and AP English Literature and Composition.

“Working with Ms. Langevin, as well as being her student, has been a very humbling experience and, ironically, the way I felt as a student in her class is the same way I feel as a colleague,” said Jacqueline Montanez, English teacher. “I am constantly learning from her and aspiring to be better at every facet of teaching because of her. I will miss her always being able to lend an ear and give advice, as I treasure the wealth of knowledge that she provides.”

Duffin is looking forward to sleeping in every morning and plans to travel to many different places, all while further building her fluency in Spanish.

“The most important thing I learned from teaching is to truly listen to the students,” said Duffin. “I feel that I have been taught more by the kids than they’ve been taught by me, as I learned to endure every challenge in life just as they have, because they are so strong. I’ll miss them and I’d like to thank them for that, and making this journey worth it. I’ll miss all the staff members at Schurr because we are like a team, especially my wonderful aide, Marie Sanchez, and other amazing special education colleagues.”

Langevin plans to travel and attend the orchestra concerts her son Garrett conducts at Eastman School of Music in his final year of the doctorate program. She also hopes to spend more time reading and enjoying music, movies and theater. She will continue to help students in the journalism program with college applications.

“I will miss the students the most, because I have enjoyed helping them become more open-minded, as knowing something about the arts and culture of the past will help them understand more what is fully going on today,” said Langevin. Two teachers to retire, looking toward future