Susan Junkroski

Susan Junkroski- Foreign Language Teacher

Q: How long have you worked here?

A: “I have worked here 31 years.”

Q: What has been your favorite experience while teaching?

A: “In 31 years? How can you pick one? I remember, wow, a long time ago, where I had a 10th hour class and there were two junior boys in a Spanish 1 class and the rest of kids were freshmen. The juniors were part of the football team and they were cool and handsome and they were big. We had a little red headed kid who was a whiner, and he was short. You know, anything someone could be picked on for was wrapped up in this little kid. His name was Alex and he would complain a lot. It got to the point where the two juniors would look at him and say his name and he would stop. I never had to do anything. These two junior boys just sort of took Alex under their wing and by the time he got to the end of freshman year, he was a completely different kid because he had these two great role models. I think that that’s probably emblematic of our kids. I think WeGo is just full of kids that do that for each other, that help each other grow up and that make each other better.”

Q: What will you miss most about the school?

A: “Kids. Yeah, I’m definitely an outgoing person and I get to talk to 150 different people everyday. I have a feeling that I’m going to be the lady in the grocery store that talks to everybody because I just need to talk to people. For 36 years of my adult life I have been talking to all these different people everyday and interacting with them, it’s going to be weird not to talk to that many people everyday.”

Q: How do you feel you have impacted the school?

A: “I’ve always been a great believer in the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so when I see something that I don’t think is right for kids, I make a lot of noise. That, I think, making noise on the behalf of kids is the thing that I’ve done in my 31 years.”

Q: Do you have any plans for retirement?

A: “First thing I want to do is travel somewhere when it’s not a school break. So I don’t have to be in the airport with 100 moms and kids when the prices go up. So I’ve already scheduled a trip to South America for October. I’m going to Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, and we’re ending up in Rio but that’s only because it’s on the way to fly out. I’m not going to see much of Brazil. I’m very excited about that trip though.”

Q: Is there anything you would like to say to students?

A: “I said this to seniors who asked me for final words for the class. People say to you, ‘oh high school is the best years of your life’ or ‘college years are the best years of your life.’ Well, wouldn’t it be sad if your life was over by the time you’re 21? I mean if the best years of your life are between 18 and 21, then what do you do until you die at 60 or 70 or 90? I’m still waiting for the best years of my life, and I’m closing in on 60, so I’m not a great  believer in this ‘best years of your life’ you have to make every year of your life the best year of your life.”