Ms. Kurtz can’t be replaced

Gallery • 26 Photos

1994

Science Teacher Ms. Deborah Kurtz plans to retire after almost 32 years of teaching at Milton. 

During her time at Milton, Ms. Kurtz said she has taught eight different courses, which include multiple biology classes, Medical Terminology, Environmental Health Science, Applied Biology and Chemistry One and Two. 

She said that out of those eight courses, Biology Lab and Honors Biology 2 were her favorite to teach because she found them to be more fun than the others. “Biology Lab and Biology 2 Honors were fun because we could study areas in which students were interested. I could tailor the lessons and labs according to each group,” she said. 

She said that although teaching was always one of her options for her future, she also considered raising horses, nursing or becoming a chiropractor. She ultimately decided on teaching since there were no chiropractic schools in her area and she didn’t want to raise horses anymore. Nursing wasn’t an option since she couldn’t work nights or weekends because of her future children. 

Aside from science, the subjects she considered were biology, accounting, business, French and physical education. She added that she chose biology because it was her current interest at the time.  

She said that the changes in how teachers teach over the past 30 years has been the most challenging.  

“I don’t think the students are learning the same amount of material that they learned before because of all the changes that have been made over the years,” she added. 

She said that the courses were more strict, students had homework everyday and computers weren’t used very often for learning. 

 She also mentioned that patience is the biggest lesson she learned while teaching.  

Ms. Kurtz said that she has decided to retire because she feels that it is time and she has more obligations outside of school now than she did before. She said that she will miss her colleagues very much since they have created close bonds over the years.  

She said that after she retires she will take a break, do some more reading/gardening and do some travelling.  

She said that she hopes the impact she left on her students has been to help them learn to ask questions, not believe everything they hear, to use their logic, have a better understanding of what is happening in the world and have a positive impact. 

She said that her favorite memories are of hearing her past students’ successes and when they come up to her to either thank her or apologize to her. According to her, several of her students have succeeded as veterinarians, registered nurses, pharmacists, physical therapists, occupational therapists and others. She said that the signs of appreciation mean a lot to her. 

Ms. Kurtz said her advice for newer or future teachers is that it is going to be a challenge and to not give up because it takes a few years to feel organized.