By Vanessa True
This school year, Batavia High School is saying their goodbyes to a teacher of 23 years, Celeste Dalton. Dalton has touched the lives of hundreds of students throughout her years here at BHS teaching classes such as Child Care Lab, Child Development, Parenting, Foods, Consumer Ed, Fashion Merchandising, Housing and Interior Design, and Adult Living. As Dalton’s retirement nears, she reflects on her years teaching and speaks of her future beyond her famous decorated door.
Q: Are you excited about retiring?
D: “It is bittersweet. I so enjoy what I am doing and I am going to miss my students, but I am excited about a new chapter in my life, too.”
Q: In your last year here, was there one thing you wanted to accomplish or do?
D: “No, I just told myself this year I just strictly wanted to have fun with my students, but I have done that in the past anyway.”
Q: What will you miss about coming to school every day?
D: “The ‘I never know what the day holds’ kind of feeling. And always knowing that my students will lift me up. If it is a harder start of the day I know my students, with their jokes and stories, will brighten my day.”
Q: What is the most memorable moment in your teaching career?
D: “Oh man! I would say when a former student came back to show me that he became an officer in the United States Marine Corps and gifted me with his flight helmet, which is now proudly displayed in my classroom.”
Q: Out of all the different classes you have taught what is your favorite subject and why?
D: “Before I started teaching what I am teaching now I would have said, Consumer Ed. That was such a passion of mine for many years. Now I would probably have to say Child Care Lab because I get the big kids and the little kids.”
Q: How do you think your life will change next year when you don’t have school to come to?
D: “Woah, that is one thing I am kind of worried about, because I am a very routine oriented person, and not to have a set routine is going to be kind of different for me for a little while. But on the other hand I am looking forward to not having a routine and just waking up and feeling like ‘gee what do I feel like doing today?’ I have an endless summer!”
Q: What is one thing you are looking forward to?
D: “Spending more time with Mr. Dalton. No offense, but not having papers to grade. Of course, being more flexible and having more time to spend with my grandchildren.”
Q: Is your family excited about spending more time, specifically the grandchildren?
D: “As a matter of fact I told my granddaughters, the two older ones, I would teach them how to sew, cause they really want to learn. So we are going to have some sewing lesson, I am going to spend a lot of time with them, sewing.”
Q: What was your very first job, and did you always see yourself being a teacher?
D: “When I was young- my first job was I used to deliver newspapers- it was one of my first jobs- and I worked in a grocery store. No, when I went to school I saw myself doing something with math for a while, teaching was not even on my radar until I was 30 when I thought to go into teaching. I always thought I would do something with numbers like banking or finance until a girlfriend all of a sudden suggested it and I went with it and no turning back, I love it, I love it!”