As another school year comes to a close, nine more faculty members are descending from Puma nation, including JJ Chandler, Dennis Mitchell, and Stephanie Morgan.
Chandler has been teaching here since the beginning of Perry– for six years– and he has been in charge of the history department. He is departing to be the dean of students for Chandler High School, but will remember the students and atmosphere here.
Chandler says, “I’ll miss the students and the family environment…[and] interacting with students will be a big loss.” Though unsettling, he is “… excited for the next challenge in [his] career,” which he is most definitely doing with this promotion to Chandler.
Mitchell, another teacher here from the start, taught AP English 12 and has seen the range of influences casted on Perry throughout his time here. “I was here from the beginning of Perry… and I thought this would be where I retire… but I’ll definitely miss Perry,” says Mitchell on his final thoughts on the school. Mitchell has been an inspiring teacher for most, and will be an extremely devastating loss as a staff member of the school.
Morgan is a biology teacher, in which has impacted many of the new STEM students participating as of this year. With her release, it is a wonder to who will fill her shoes in a position of such. “I’m leaving my options open… because of my background,” says Morgan, in which that background fits professions of an endocrinologist and a hospitalist. “I am definitely going to miss the students and really getting to know and be able to be apart of their life… and sponsoring the clubs… and everything since I’ve been at Perry has been a lot of fun so I will definitely miss that aspect of it.”
With these teachers being a large part of Puma nation and their teaching styles impacting students at the individual level, it is going to be hard to just relieve them of their position. Faculty members like, Amy Hatchner, Jim Vanney, Richard Trujillo, Peggy Bejarano, Chad Brun, and Scott Uyeshiro, are all leaving Perry in higher hopes.
