Rachel McClurg
Managing Editor
Freda Briggs, a professor of English, will soon say goodbye to 27 years as an educator as well as four years as a high school teacher. Briggs will be retiring after the spring 2018 semester. There were many reasons that Briggs decided to pursue a career in teaching, but one reason in particular stood out to her.
“I think I had to be a teacher because that’s the ultimate helping profession, and I enjoy it,” Briggs said.
Briggs was able to recognize the impact that she had on her students during her time at Butler, while not many people have the opportunity to make an impact on those around them.
“It’s a job where our concerns are about things that make a difference,” Briggs said. “It’s not like you leave and close the door and it’s over. You know we carry it with us all of the time and the things that we talk about are the things that have an impact on people and it’s really rewarding to think about that.”
When asked about the most rewarding thing about teaching at Butler, Briggs immediately mentioned her students.
“Seeing their [the students] progress, getting to know them, getting to know their stories, their courage, their fortitude, their grit,” Briggs said. “Just knowing the students and feeling like I’m having a part in their lives.”
Often times teachers are able to explain something that happened during their teaching career that ultimately shaped the way that they teach or how they continue to push forward and that was true for Briggs as well.
“Sometimes it’s honestly the students that we spend the most time on are the ones that we can’t save…but really those are kind of the ones that propel us forward because we know that they’re the ones that we want their futures to be better, and we kind of always have a part in that,” Briggs said.
Apart from teaching at Butler, Briggs is looking forward to a future of being able to pursue the things that she normally would not have time for.
“I like to make things, I like to write, I like to read, I’ll spend more time at the Y… I’m just really, really, really excited about it and I’m really, really, really sad to leave Butler, but I know it’s time,” Briggs said.
It does not matter how much someone enjoys their profession, even things that you look forward to doing every day must come to an end at some point.