Julie Suess, a beloved teacher at Aragon, retires after teaching for 18 years.
Aragon’s Education Specialist and Coach Julie Suess will retire at the end of this year after teaching for 18 years.
“[Something I love about teaching] is building relationships [with the students], and then seeing the change,” Suess said. “Especially in this program [seeing them] come in, broken and anxious. To see them figure out how to do academics, succeed, get confident and then graduate is huge. I’ve had juniors come in with 27 and a half credits. Basically, they have less than a semester to show for their two years of beginning high school. Then to watch them graduate and go, ‘Okay, I didn’t think I could do it. But now I’m doing it,’ it’s huge. Then they’re going off, and they’re doing college, and they’re having regular lives when they didn’t think that was ever possible for them. To see that actually happen is big and makes it worth it for sure.”
Suess also taught in a therapeutic setting. Students commented on the impact Suess left on them.
“I say she was a really big inspiration because I want to do teaching sometime soon, so I feel like just being able to interact with her [is inspiring for my future teaching career],” said sophomore Kaylah Schlaefer. “[Also] I like how open she was to letting me do [whatever] helps me best and willing to try out different ideas to help me learn better. Not only so she would always help me with school and assignments, keeping me on track, [and] making sure everything’s going smooth.”
Not only did she teach, but she also coached many sports like volleyball and waterpolo, serving as the tennis coach at Capuchino High School.
“[She keeps] up the team morale and definitely makes an effort to help out the kids and help them learn,” said Capuchino sophomore and tennis player Dylan Lee. “She’s always there rooting for the team [and also] always very inspirational during the matches. She was kind of like a blessing to me. As a freshman I came in, joined [the tennis team], and I had no clue how to hold the racket. Then, two months later, I was jamming. I won my first couple of games and she was there. Even if I’m sour about my losses, she’s always upbeat, like glass half full.”
Other students concur.
“She brings snacks and whenever after my [tennis] game, or if I lost everything, she understands my mood just based on my face and how I play and then encourages me,” said senior tennis player at Capuchino, Kaley Shum. “[Because of] her understanding towards me, she was able to understand me during the game, and she’s able to recognize how I feel and what I’m comfortable with, [so she knows] the right words to say.”
Many view her retirement as a great loss for the community.
“Aragon is going to lose this very special person in special education,” said Instructional Aide I, Parisa Hojjatnia. “I think she’s very experienced. She knows what the job is and what the requirements are. She knows everything about this and I think it would be a very big loss for us, not having her. But on the other hand, I’m so happy for her that she’s doing what the next chapter of her life [is] and what life is bringing to her.”
Suess taught at Peninsula for one year, Capuchino for six years and Aragon for ten years. Finally, she has decided to move to Colorado for retirement.
“I admire the fact that she’s retiring, and moving on to her next chapter in life,” said Instructional Assistant and Coach Joseph Olivé. “The other part [that I admire] is that she knows what she wants to do and is willing to go out on her own terms. She has the courage to just [say], ‘okay, it’s time to move forward. Turn the page, number one, number two.’”
Hojjatnia discussed the roots of her relationship with Suess.
“It was the first day that I immigrated to the states,” Hojjatnia said. “So it was really important for me to get a job. And I had this opportunity to have an interview here and I got it. She trusted me and she basically hired me. Her role in my life is [something] I never, [ever will] forget [about]. She really cares about you [and pays you] attention. [She knows when you’re having a bad day, and] she asks about your life and cares about you, so she’s a really good friend also. Now I’m going to miss her as a friend, not as a colleague.”
Warm wishes are given out to her from students and colleagues.
“It’s been a pleasure to have [you] around this year, talking and seeing [you] again,” Olivé said. “Good luck.”
Characters
Ms. Suess
“ [Something I love about teaching] is building a rapport, building relationships, and then seeing the change. Especially in this program [seeing them], come in, broken and anxious. To see them figure out how to do academics, succeed, get confident, and then graduate is huge,” said Ed Specialist and Coach Julie Suess. “Because I’ve had juniors come in with 27 and a half credits. Basically, they have less than a semester to show for their two years of beginning High School, and then to watch them graduate and go,’ Okay, I didn’t think I could do it. But now I’m doing it’, it’s huge. Then they’re going off, and they’re doing college, and they’re having regular lives when they didn’t think that was ever possible for them. To see that actually happen is big and makes it worth it for sure. Mixed one
“She brings snacks and whenever after my game or if I lost everything she understands my mood just based on their face and how I play,” says mixed one. “[Because of] her understanding towards me, she was able to understand me during the game, and she’s able to recognize how I feel and what I’m comfortable with the right words to say.”
“she’s just like an overall great person. Like she told me like, how she would like take in kids who like didn’t have like a home and like she would bring them to a better spot. And like she’s so understanding.”
“Like when she was working in Aragon, she helped my classmate with his extended essay for IB and she would come like within, she would come to cap from Aragon to help him with his essay. “
Dylan
“She was kind of like a blessing to me,” “As a freshman I came in, joined [the tennis team], and I had no clue how to hold the racket. Then, two months later, I was jamming. I won my first couple of games and she was there and she definitely plays an effort to help out the kids and help them learn. She’s always there rooting for the team [and also] always very inspirational during the matches. [She keeps] up the team morale. Even if I’m sour about my losses she’s always upbeat like glass half full.
“She was kind of like a blessing to me. As a freshman I came in, joined [the tennis team], and I had no clue how to hold the racket. Then, two months later, I was jamming. I won my first couple of games and she was there. Even if I’m sour about my losses she’s always upbeat like glass half full.
“[She keeps] up the team morale and definitely makes an effort to help out the kids and help them learn. She’s always there rooting for the team [and also] always very inspirational during the matches,”
Assistant
“It was the first day that I immigrated to the states. So it was really important for me to get a job. And I had this opportunity to have an interview here and I got it. She trusted me and she basically hired me. Her role in my life is [something] I never, [ever will] forget [about],” says Hojjatnia. “She really cares about you [and pays you] attention. [She knows when you’re having a bad day, and] she asks about your life and cares about you, so she’s a really good friend also. Now I’m going to miss her as a friend, not as a colleague.”
“Aragon is going to lose this very special person in special education,” says Institutition assistant one SDOJAODSJKJ. “I think she’s very experienced. She knows what the job is and what the requirements are. She knows everything about this and I think it would be a very big loss for us, not having her. But on the other hand, I’m so happy for her that she’s doing what the next chapter of her life [is] and what life is bringing to her.”
“She really cares about you [and pays you] attention. [She knows when you’re having a bad day, and] she asks about your life and cares about you, so she’s a really good friend also.” “Working in a small team with Ms. Suess and the therapist, our relationship, just goes into another phase. Now I’m going to miss her as a friend, not as a colleague.”
I admire her as a friend also, she’s really caring. She’s very attentive to you and I think these are qualities that I found in her except, you know, as a person outside of the school, and from the things that she say about her friends, she had lots of good friends. So that tells me that you know, she’s very social and she loves to do you know, she hasn’t met a lot of good friends. So that will tell you a lot about
And so our relationship, just go another phase. And now I’m going to miss her as a friend, not as a colleague. So
“Her classroom is very vibrant and she talks about everything with the kids,” said Hojjaini. “It’s not just about academic stuff [but] the things that happen in [the] news or checking on them every day [not academically but] the whole thing. She treats every student very personally and has a one to one relationship with them. So I think she has close relationships with the students, and I [believe the] kids feel very comfortable with her.”
Schlaefer
She like just like a parental figure.
“I say she was a really big inspiration because I want to do teaching sometime soon, so I feel like just being able to interact with her [is inspiring for my future teaching career],” said sophomore Kaylah Schlaefer. “[Also] I like how open she was. She was really open to letting me do [whatever] helps me best and willing to try out different ideas to help me learn better. Not only so she would always help me with school and assignments, keeping me on track, [and] making sure everything’s going smooth.”
She would always like help me with like school and like assignments, keeping me on track, making sure everything’s going smooth
I like how open she was. She was really open to letting me do [whatever] helps me best. [She’s also] willing to try out different ideas to help me learn better. Not only so she would always help me with school and assignments, keeping me on track, [and] making sure everything’s going smooth.
I definitely do like her as a teacher. Like, she was really sweet and like always there for me. So I feel like that’s like really good support to have.
Joe
“I admire the fact that she’s retiring, and moving on to her next chapter in life,” says Coach Olive’. “ I do know that she is going to be leaving the state to her new home in Colorado, so I admire that about her. The other part [that I admire] is that she has passion and empathy, and wants to help the students move on to the next chapter of their lives.”
