Teaching Careers Coming to an End

American journalist and historian Henry Brooks Adams once said, “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”

While every teacher hopes to inspire their students, none at Haddam-Killingworth High School have influenced more students in Regional School District 17 than four teachers set to retire this month with more than 150 years of combined teaching service.

For Mark Brookes, Jim Daniels, Patsy Kamercia and Lew Traester, graduation on June 22 will be more bittersweet than any graduation they have witnessed over the past three-plus decades. This time, they are graduating as well, to the next phase of their lives - retirement.

Brookes and Kamercia began teaching in Haddam before the current high school was built. Daniels and Traester were among the first to be hired when the high school opened its doors in 1975.

"I was present at creation. That means Mark Brookes and Patsy Kamercia were present before creation," Daniels joked.

These teachers have witnessed many changes in the classroom, from overhead projectors, typewriters and calculators to computers, the internet and smart boards. They have witnessed fashion changes that include bellbottoms and tie dye, leg warmers and cut off sweatshirts, skinny jeans and saggy jeans, skin-baring tops and oversized t-shirts. As students have learned to adapt with technology and fashion, so have these teachers.

"When I first started, a call to Killingworth from the high school was a toll call," recalls Traester. Now there is voicemail, email, teacher web pages, online grading and report cards.

When HKHS was completed in 1975,  it allowed students in Haddam to attend school locally, instead of having to travel to Middletown to complete their primary education. Killingworth students were moved from Morgan High School in Clinton to the new sprawling building off Little City Road. Haddam Junior High became Haddam Killingworth Middle School (now administrative offices and support classrooms for the high school) and Regional School District 17 was born.

Kamercia came to Haddam Junior High in 1971, after spending a year at Woodrow Wilson High School in Middletown, to teach Physical Education. The Clinton resident also taught 6th grade at Burr Elementary School.  She earned degrees at Southern Connecticut State University and the University of Bridgeport. She was the first athletic director when Haddam-Killingworth High School opened.

A Haddam native, Brookes earned his degree at Maryville College, in Tennessee, and began teaching PE in 1975. In 1977, Brookes became the new high school's first and only baseball coach. In retirement, Brookes will continue coaching the high school baseball team, as well as work at his painting business. His five children have all passed through the halls of H-K making his "involvement in teaching  a family experience," he says.

Daniels came to H-K in 1976, after spending three years at Windsor Locks High School. A graduate of MIT and Harvard, Daniels has taught chemistry, including honors level classes, as well as the Chemistry Project Lab, the Science of Cars and Science in the Home, since 1976. He is currently the head of the science department at HKHS. His son Ben is a 2002 graduate of H-K.

Traester began teaching history at H-K in 1976, after teaching stops at the University of Connecticut, Hamden High School and Michael Whalen Junior High School in Hamden. Through the years he has taught Advanced Placement U.S. History, Sociology, U.S. History, World History and Geography. He is head of the social studies department at H-K.

Brookes and Kamercia also have the distinction of being the first and only coaches to lead their respective teams, in baseball and field hockey, in H-K's history. Each has had a noteworthy coaching career.

Brookes - with over 500 wins, has led his teams to 10 shoreline conference titles, 17 appearances in the state quarter final round, eight state semi-final appearances and three-time state finalists.

Kamercia - with over 300 wins, has led her teams to 13 shoreline conference titles, four state semi-final appearances, six state final appearances and two state championships.

Each has earned state, regional and national recognition as coaches. They have both been inducted into the H-K Hall of Fame.

Why H-K?

"This was an opportunity to be part of the establishment of a new high school, one not burdened with decades of past practice," said Traester.

"I had worked many summers with the Haddam Recreation Department (prior to Frank Sparks tenure with the department)," noted Brookes. "I was familiar with the kids and many families in town at that time and had grown up in Haddam. With the new high school being built and the district needing staff, this was a good fit for me."

"It was really exciting being involved with the evolution of the high school," said Kamercia. "The most positive change was we were not sending students from Killingworth to Morgan or Haddam students to Middletown."

Memories for these teachers include a school trip to Disney World, selecting the high school colors and mascot, the first yearbook (Traester has served as advisor since the beginning), block scheduling, modified block scheduling, new principals, mentoring new teachers, development of the high school athletic program, the first graduation ceremony, changes in graduation requirements, expanded standardized testing and the list goes on.

What Will You Miss the Most?

"I will happily remember the daily times when the light bulb went on in students’ heads and they said “Oooohhhhh”. That is the most wonderful sound in a classroom," said Daniels.   

"Past and present students and faculty members with whom I shared the challenge of developing bright futures for our students," shared Traester.

"The kids in this district have been the BEST for the entire 40 years I have taught here," Kamercia said with pride. "That has not changed."

"Back in the day, Killingworth contributed only one-third of the students. Now it’s fifty-fifty," said Daniels. "Over the years H-K, like the state and the nation, as a whole, have sent a higher and higher percentage of our students to college."  

Other positive changes include increased community support for the school district, along with positive parental interaction with staff, notes Traester.

Like the class of 2011, these four teachers are looking forward to new experiences ahead of them. Daniels, Kamercia and Traester plan to travel. Daniels hopes to tutor. Traester plans to do some volunteer work and catch up on deferred maintenance at his house. Kamercia will help out in her husband's dry cleaning business. Brookes will be busy with his painting business and next spring you'll find him back in the dugout at H-K.

"Between teaching and other school related responsibilities, I’ve been going at 120 percent for years now. It’s time to throttle back to 40 percent," Daniels said.

All four teachers have played large roles at H-K. They take with them a vast knowledge of not only the school, but the community and the hundreds of students who have learned from them. To say they will be missed is perhaps the greatest understatement.

Note: The original article stated that HKHS opened in 1978. The correct date is 1975.