The Unalaska City School District saw significant staff turnover this year, including the retirement of Sharon O’Malley, Karie Wilson, Linda Lekanoff, Trish Adams, Steven Gregory and Jim Wilson.
KUCB's Carlos Tayag sat down with them to reflect on their time with the district.
Today, we hear from Sharon O’Malley, who is retiring from UCSD after nearly three decades. She has taught third grade for the last 22 years.
TRANSCRIPT:
SHARON O’MALLEY: My name is Sharon O'Malley. And I've been teaching here at the school for 22 years, this is my 22nd year. But before that I worked as a teacher's aide for six years. So really, I've been working in the district for 28 years altogether. And this is it, I'm retiring after summer school's over.
CARLOS TAYAG: What are you going to miss about working at the elementary school?
O’MALLEY: Oh my gosh, I'm going to miss a lot of things about working there. I've really loved my job, I really have. I'm going to miss mostly, I think, just being a part of something and being a part of something that I feel like is meaningful, and I'm doing something, you know, that's helping other people. I love the people that I'm surrounded by there, and I'm not talking about just the kids, the kids are great. But I've also really loved my colleagues. And it's just been a place that I have always been happy to go into every morning. I've never had that feeling that many people have about jobs, dreading going, and I've never had that. I've always actually been really happy to go into work there. So I'm gonna miss everybody being around that energy, you know, just being around a big group of wonderful people — I'm gonna miss that.
TAYAG: What are you looking forward to in your retirement?
O’MALLEY: Well, I'll be perfectly honest, the number one thing that I'm really looking forward to is sleeping in in the morning. I've never been a morning person. In 28 years, I've never been a morning person. So finally, I'm gonna get to do that. But clearly, that's not the reason that I retired. I'm looking forward to having time off to be able to see my family down south. As a teacher, I only would get to go out in the summer, usually, and occasionally at Christmas, but that was always really rushed. And I just like to have time, besides the summer, that I can actually go spend time with my family and close friends down south. So that's one thing I'm really looking forward to. I'm looking forward to hopefully getting back into some of the fun hobbies that I've had over the years that I just kind of never, I just dropped them along the way. And now I'm going to have time again. So what I really like to do is more painting. And I like to do more playing my guitar and writing songs. It's been a long time since I've written a song. And that's something I used to love to do. So just time to kind of do whatever I want.
TAYAG: Do you have any favorite memories or experiences over the years?
O’MALLEY: Oh, my gosh, I've have so many that you wouldn't have time for me to record them. Honestly, so many that are special enough that I should record them. But if I'm only going to pick one, I will pick this one: One year, I had been diagnosed with breast cancer. So I had a leave for several months. And I had a sub at the time. Mandy Anderson was sub. And she was wonderful, you know? While I was gone, Mandy had shared with my class this story that some of you might know. It's the 1000 cranes. There's a story about this girl that was dying of cancer. But back in Japan, there was a belief that if anybody made 1000 paper cranes, origami cranes, that they could make a wish and that wish would come true. So anyway, she shared that with the class. They read that story together. So I was gone for several months. But when I came back, the first day back in my classroom, it was just unbelievable. There were 1000 paper cranes in my classroom. They were everywhere. They were hanging from the whole ceiling. They were all around the windows. And I am starting to cry because it was very emotional. It wasn't just my class that did all that. The whole school helped, teachers too. But there were 1000 paper cranes in my classroom. There was barely room to walk because some of them were really big. Some of them were literally three feet high. And they were all different sizes. And you know, they were hanging like garlands hanging from the ceiling. And that was incredibly special to me.
TAYAG: Were you a school lunch eater?
O’MALLEY: You know, I was for a while. There was a couple of years there when I was eating school lunch pretty much every single day. But I'll tell you what, that's expensive. That is not cheap. And yeah, at the end of the year, I would just pay my bill, but it was always a shock to me how much I owed for my lunch. So anyways, for the last few years, I have not been eating school lunch.
TAYAG: What was your favorite school lunch?
O’MALLEY: Well, boy, there were some great ones. I did have a favorite. In fact, even after I stopped buying school lunches, if I saw this dish on the menu, I'd make an exception that day. That would be Linda's shepherd's pie.
TAYAG: What about the shepherd's pie?
O’MALLEY: It was just delicious. I don't know how she made it. But she had these huge pans full of like a meat and vegetable gravy, and then just smothered the top with mashed potatoes. And it was just delicious.
TAYAG: Is there anything else you would like to say? Or share a farewell message?
O’MALLEY: I'm just so grateful to have had a job that I've absolutely loved. This is the only place I've ever taught. I got my degree during the six years that I was working as an aide. There was only one job position open the year that I had graduated. One, and that's in the whole district, like nobody was leaving that year. And they had created a new position for the coming year. And that was for an ESL person. The third grade teacher really wanted to slide over and take that ESL job, John Fager, and he had been teaching third grade, so suddenly, just out of nowhere, there was a job opening and I got it. I was very grateful to get it. I've had lots of chances to move to other grades over the years, but I've never wanted to. I love third grade. It's the best.
TAYAG: Thank you for everything that you've done for kids and families.
O’MALLEY: My pleasure. Both of my daughters went from preschool to graduation here. I'm still actually going to be around for a while. I don't have plans to leave the island anytime soon. So I have already told the school district that I will definitely be willing to sub next year. So I'll still keep my foot in the door and I'll be able to get in there once in a while.
