In the fall of 1978, I entered Griffith Junior High School for the first time.

My class schedule was daunting. There was math with Mr. Pester, science with Mr. McTaggart, social studies with Mr. Etienne and English with Ms. Allard.

They are all responsible for making me the person that I am today, with special recognition going to Kathy Allard as she prepares to retire from teaching. If my writing is better than average, she played a part in that development. Any errors, of course, fall to me.

Those formative years in the late 1970s and early '80s taught me a great deal and provided a treasure trove of good stories to write about. In English class, we learned how to express ourselves through journal writing. I wish I would have saved some of those journals; it would have been a wonderful way to enter the mind of an early teen and the issues we all dealt with at that time.

During this school year, I have had the chance to visit classrooms. As the school year winds down, I thought it would be fitting to recap some of what I have seen this year. (As a quick aside, there is a lot of good going on the schools and not nearly enough written about it.)

I had the pleasure of following Mike Gordon's We the People program at Munster High School. The students were very excited about going to the national competition in Washington, D.C. As a reward for their hard work, placing seventh nationally had to be sweet success indeed. There are more than 50 teams who compete at this level and to place that high is quite an accomplishment.

Similarly, Estela Nunez's students at Washington Elementary in East Chicago competed at the We the People state level. Nunez has single-handedly taken this program on and is working hard to spread the word to other schools in the system. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the students could take that energy and apply it at the next levels of competition - eighth and 11th grades respectively?

Then there are the Outsiders. Michele Tyler from Clark and Sue Schweitzer from Grimmer in Schererville have taken their students' enthusiasm for the characters in the S.E. Hinton novel and laid the groundwork for a higher level of civic participation. The students put the main character on trial for murder.

Amy Wilhite at Griffith Middle School had a chance to tell about how her kids learn the valuable skills of leadership and cooperation participating in the Challenge Leadership Program, based in Indianapolis. The program started in 2005 and has met with great success with continued support from the Griffith Educational Foundation.

And let's not forget the wonderful work done by Tom Clark and his students from Lake Central High School. Their work includes the Gold Star Memorial and the Interact Club. Both give back to the community in ways we cannot measure completely.

So rest easy, Kathy, and all other retiring teachers; the future is in good hands. Sit back and relax - you have earned it.

- Bill Vargo is a longtime Highland resident. The opinions expressed are his own. Contact him at billvargo@yahoo.com.