By Evan Misner and Isabella Mikula

Over the past 20-30 years at Batavia High School, the culture has changed but not many current teachers could share the changes. Coach Trippi Payne and Mrs. Miller has shared the changes they witnessed.

Asking about their first experience at Batavia High School, Coach Trippi Payne said “We had a huge problem with alcohol and hard drugs like LSD and we had many students who had problems with that as well as athletes. It was a lot different at the time here. I was one of the only younger teachers at the time teaching, it was a much older faculty which is a good experience for me because I learned a lot…The staff was really good to work for and work with. The student body at the time was small, about 800 students here and we had a few issues including some suicides”.  

Mrs. Miller shared about her favorite student eras her first one was when she first started teaching. She said “Probably back in the ‘90’s, because it was new, I didn’t have my own children yet. I could spend a lot of time getting ready for school and I was coaching”. Then her other favorite era she said “Probably now because I get to interact with students in a different way I get to see a lot more students rather than just my classes and I get to actually help students with things and make their life’s easier”.

TrippiPayne had shared on what she would change about students now and what would it be, and she said “Probably that our students need to not take everything they see and hear as the truth or fact. We can’t be totally reliant on the internet and social media”.

TrippiPayne and Mrs. Miller lightly touched on what some of their best moments were at the school and Mrs. Miller said “Coaching was a lot of fun because I got to know students at a different level. I Coached volleyball for my first four years. My favorite years have been my last three years as a librarian because we get to see students all day and help them with what they need help with”. TrippiPayne said. “I really enjoyed teaching English here and it definitely was a challenge with coaching two sports for a while but I really enjoyed it, I really enjoyed the interaction, and I really enjoyed the academic part of it. I also enjoyed getting the chance to teach a lot of the Accel PE and helping develop that curriculum and getting all of those things going with that and I’m really proud of how we were making that into an academic class.”

Mrs. Miller said about the one thing that amazes her about this current generation and that is “How quickly information travels, and how every day I’m learning things from students. Whether it’s new words or information and that they are able to gain that information quickly”.