Local elementary reading teacher Katherine Lancaster retired on Jan. 31. She worked at Elmer Avenue Elementary in Schenectady and has been in the education business for a total of 24 years! And now she is looking forward to opening a new chapter of her life.
Lancaster started out as a paraprofessional, which lasted for four years. Then she went back to school and taught for another four years. Finally she went to be a reading teacher at Elmer Avenue for 16 more years, seven months of them also teaching at other schools in the area.
Lancaster knew early on that she wanted to be a teacher when she got older. When high school came around and her future needed some thought, she graduated from school early and took courses in childhood education in college.
Lancaster says she has a great sense of satisfaction coming out of her career knowing that she helped so many children, some of whom are now adults, succeed in their lives and grow as a person. Thinking back on all the years, the thing she will cherish the most is the fact that she “had a real powerful emotional connection with kids,” she says, holding back hard-earned tears.
Lancaster’s plan for the future is to part-time babysit the newborn granddaughter at home. She also says she’s going to do some traveling with her husband and do some predictable things like read and spend time at the library. Her hobbies include snowshoeing and spending time on the lake. She also has a knitting club.
Another thing that she is defiantly very interested in is teaching adult literacy.
So this is the end of Katherine Lancaster’s career, but it’s a whole new beginning to a whole new part of her life. Her actions and talents will greatly be remembered always.
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