Hammond’s Dilemma
By: Abby Caudill
After thirty-four years of teaching at Culver Community, Theresa Hammond is
planning to retire in May of 2023. Mrs. Hammond has taught five individual types of advanced
sciences. However, with this announcement, many are trying to get her to stay due to the
difficulty of finding a replacement.
Hammond knew she had wanted to be a high school teacher since the
seventh grade, but throughout high school, science was her worst subject. So, being a science
teacher was never really in her thoughts until her senior year of high school.
“In my senior year, I took a Biology II class and really liked it,” stated Mrs.
Hammond. “When I started going to college, I thought I didn’t want to teach English, Math, or
Social Studies; so science was kinda the fall back.”
After graduating with a high school diploma, she enrolled in college to study
Biology and Chemistry for a straightforward science degree. She then worked as an office
secretary for five years before she had decided to go back to college to receive a Secondary Ed
degree.
She rates her time at Culver a ten out of ten, even though her experience
here has not been perfect. She credits the success to the freedom she was given on how she
taught things.
“I’ve enjoyed the students; I’ve enjoyed the faculty I’ve worked with; it’s been
a great environment,” she said.
For the past couple of years she had put off retiring for one main factor,
money. She wanted to have the amount she needs in order to be able to do the things she
wants to.
“I need to have enough money to pay for my health insurance until
Medicare kicks in,” Hammond stated. “Also feeling comfortable having enough put back in
savings to not have to work if it wasn’t important.”
However, many have been trying to get Hammond to stay because finding a
science teacher with her skills of teaching high science is difficult. There aren’t very many higher
level teachers out there to hire who would be interested in such a small school.
“It’s getting harder and harder to find math and science teachers for middle
and high schoolers,” Mrs. Trent, president of the Culver Teacher’s Union, stated. “It’s getting
difficult not only to find people who have those degrees, but also to find those who are as good
as the science teachers we have now.”
