Walking into Terri Stirk’s class, you’re always guaranteed a breath of fresh air — literally. For 18 years, Stirk has taught at WS, making people discover their passion for math and also providing the essential candy to freshen up people’s lives — mints. This year has cost her 48.5 bags of mints so far.
After 33 years of teaching, Stirk is planning to retire. This year is the last year the beloved Precalculus, AP Calculus BC, and Multivariable teacher will be teaching at WS full-time. Next year, Duke Baird will be taking over AP Calculus BC and Multivariable.
“At this point, I’ve maxed out my retirement with the state and the county. Working longer doesn’t earn me anything more,” said Stirk. “But I am going to substitute teach, and I’m hoping to come back part time later.”
Stirk has a long family history of teachers that inspired her to become a teacher herself. Her mother was an elementary school teacher at Hunt Valley, her grandfather was a principal, and both of her grandmothers were teachers.
“I started college thinking maybe med school, be a pediatrician, and quickly decided I did not enjoy the science,” said Stirk. “So teaching was the next thing I absolutely wanted to do. I had been teaching swimming lessons and things like that for a while. I coached soccer when I was in high school.”
After retiring, Stirk hopes to be able to do some more traveling, although her son rejected her idea of traveling around the country in an RV and being homeschooled for a year.
As a math teacher who has taught several WS teachers like biology teacher Jennifer Owens and math teacher Allister Sloan, and has been at WS since the turn of the century, her retirement has been sad news to many current and former students. Many admire her teaching methods and dedication to providing the best possible education for everyone in her classes.
“She’s always there to help you,” said junior Abbigale Baker, who had Stirk for Honors Precalculus last year and AP Calculus BC this year. “She’ll answer any questions you have, she’s understanding, she doesn’t make you feel stressed out about your ability to do anything, she encourages you, and she helps you believe that you can accomplish what you want to.”
Stirk has been an extremely influential math teacher, making students previously indifferent to math like the subject and those who already liked it love it even more. It’s an understatement to say that she will be greatly missed and that her departure will leave a gap in the WS math department.
“The kids, just being around the school and the kids,” said Stirk. “That’ll be the thing I miss the most. And the math department. The math department’s awesome.”
Maryann Xue
Terri Stirk has taught for 18 years at WS and is retiring after this year with plans to continue part-time and as a subsitute.
New club alert: Spartans 4 Refugees
By Daniel Nam
Sports Editor
Spartans 4 Refugees is a club all about helping refugees. The new group is led by sophomore president Yuni Choi who created the club to help raise awareness for and help those affected by the refugee crisis going on in the world today. The club is quickly growing and gaining support from people in the area.
“We get a lot of support from the students in the 10th grade body,” said Choi. “But since the club is new, not so many people know about it.”
The club was created by Choi to try and convince high school students at WS to help and serve other kids that are struggling.
“My best friend was a refugee in eighth grade,” said Choi. “So it helped open my eyes a lot to what was going on.”
Along with Choi, vice president Zoraz Haseeb aids in running the club by organizing events and filling out paperwork. However, the weight of the club is not just on Choi and Haseeb; Heather Che and Hannah Che are also secretary and treasurer of the club.
Courtesy of Spartans 4 Refugees Twitter
All jobs which are crucial for running the club smoothly.
“I don’t have a particular role [in the club],” said Haseeb. “The four of us just take on equal responsibility.”
The club does many things, but mainly helps the refugees in the Middle East, such as Syria, by sending items like cards of hope, raising money, holding food drives, and knitting blankets.
“The community who donated to us through our bake sale was very supportive,” said Choi. “We raised 200 dollars from the bake sale alone.”
Not only is the club for a good cause, but it is an environment full of fun and exciting moments; the atmosphere is very upbeat and positive because of all the people coming together to support a good cause.
“[I joined] just to help the people who [have] gone through so much,” said sophomore Rachel Strohecker. “[It is] lots of fun. Everyone’s nice and open and overall a great environment.”
With all the recent tragedies going on in the world, members of the club believe it is important to realize that students can make a difference too.
“It is extremely important to have this club,” said Haseeb. “Students don’t know about the things that go on around the world and it is important for awareness to be spread. [Spartans 4 Refugees] creates an easy way for students to help.”