{"id":979,"date":"2018-05-24T13:25:53","date_gmt":"2018-05-24T17:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/?p=979"},"modified":"2021-11-02T12:07:55","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T16:07:55","slug":"storeys-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/storeys-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Storey\u2019s Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Gabby Lewis, Co-Editor in Chief<\/span><\/p>\n

As a teacher who\u2019s worked at the school since its opening, Ms. Storey is a staple of River Hill itself with a legendary class, even being on a committee to design the school itself. However, the time has inevitably come for her to retire after over 20 years at our school. Now that Storey\u2019s time here is coming to a close, I decided to ask her a few questions to answer what all her students have on their minds: What\u2019s next in Storey\u2019s story?<\/span><\/p>\n

Before deciding to be a teacher, Storey originally believed she was going to be a doctor, attending New York University\u2019s Pre-Medical program for two years before switching majors. She says, <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI just discovered a wonderful professor who excited me about American literature so much, and then I took another course of his, and then I said, \u2018I want to be a teacher.\u2019\u201d <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Storey studied English and Literature with a minor in Education before going to Columbia University for her Masters in Linguistics.<\/span><\/p>\n

Storey worked in financial planning before being offered her first teaching job in Rochester, NY, and she has been teaching AP English since then. The job \u201cwas a great introduction to teaching\u201d because the high school offered forty-eight English electives, she was able to teach AP English as well as a plethora of elective courses.<\/span><\/p>\n

Storey wants to teach her students skills that are valuable both in and out of the classroom. She wants students to fall in love with reading and writing, something which she tells every class on the first day, and to understand the importance of communication. Her class features many projects and seminars that draw students out of their shells, requiring them to lead discussions and speak in front of their peers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Storey wants to teach students, essentially, how to become good leaders and teammates with multiple abilities such as how \u201cto deliver a speech, to work in groups, to collaborate, [and] to synthesize ideas from a lot of different people.\u201d She believes that these skills won\u2019t just help students be better academically but will also help them to succeed more as adults.<\/span><\/p>\n

Storey says she wants these students to apply what they\u2019ve learned in class to everyday scenarios and relationships. By learning how to read and write for pleasure, students will be able to gain an aesthetic appreciation for things besides English, like politics or other artforms. She states, \u201cI think that when we become articulate verbally and in writing, there\u2019s tremendous power there. I think reading and writing is the backbone to happiness.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Although she is the teacher, Storey has continuously learned from her students as they have learned from her. \u201cI\u2019ve taught certain books loads of times… I can read them every year multiple times, and, through the conversations I\u2019ve had with students, learn something new about that work. There\u2019s always a different spin on the themes we study in literature.\u201d Storey also believes she has found lifelong friendships within her students as well as a tremendous amount of love.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked why she\u2019s decided to retire now after twenty years at River Hill and forty-seven in total as a teacher, Storey says, <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI still feel vibrant. Frankly, it scared me significantly when three of my very good friends died this year. We never know about life… so I think it\u2019s about time that I relax a little.\u201d <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, even though she\u2019s technically retiring, Storey plans to continue her tutoring business and to work with ARL teachers. \u201cI\u2019m not giving up on Howard County. I\u2019ll probably be doing quite a bit in retirement, so I don\u2019t really think I\u2019m retiring totally from teaching!\u201d Aside from her work, Storey mostly plans to travel (with six trips already planned!) and pursue new hobbies and habits like painting, piano, and exercise.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before leaving, I asked Ms. Storey what she would like to say as a sort of final message to River Hill as a whole. Of the schools of which she has worked, she says that River Hill is undoubtedly her favorite; she has never seen such hardworking teachers and students. Philosophically, she feels like one of its founders because she was so involved with its creation. <\/span><\/p>\n

She says, \u201cContinue to strive for excellence. No matter what anybody says that we\u2019re this privileged school, we are because we work hard at it… Just keep up the good work, guys.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although we watch Storey leave with heavy hearts, River Hill offers its best wishes for her future and thanks her for sticking with us through thick and thin.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Gabby Lewis, Co-Editor in Chief As a teacher who\u2019s worked at the school since its opening, Ms. Storey is a staple of River Hill itself with a legendary class, even being on a committee to design the school itself. However, the time has inevitably come for her to retire after over 20 years at our…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[294,280,286,292,281,282,283,269,211,285,56,19,291,151,293],"class_list":["post-979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","tag-english","tag-feature","tag-journalism","tag-new","tag-news","tag-opinion","tag-podcasts","tag-rhhs","tag-river-hill","tag-river-hill-high-school","tag-school","tag-sports-2","tag-storey","tag-story","tag-teaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_7044.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=979"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1886,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/979\/revisions\/1886"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}