Houston teacher leaves behind memories

Marilyn Mitchell can recall a time when Wasilla had one road, one grocery store and far fewer people. She remembers that every December the cover to the manhole at the flashing red light on the Parks Highway by Main Street and Knik Goose Bay would be removed, and in it placed a huge decorated Christmas tree. It is just one memory that is a result of more than 40 years in Alaska and 30 years in the Mat-Su Valley School District.

Originally from Washington and raised in Idaho, the Houston High School social studies teacher closes her last year of teaching this spring as she prepares for a new set of memories. Mitchell and her husband, along with one of their sons, have purchased a farm in Missouri. They plan to move shortly after the school year ends.

Mitchell and her husband moved to Alaska in 1969 as missionaries working in Grayling and Nenana. They raised two sons and have, she said, “three of the greatest grandchildren in the world.” In 1979, the Mitchell family made the move to the Mat-Su Valley, where Mitchell completed her student teaching at Wasilla Jr/Sr High School.

Mitchell began teaching at Houston Jr./Sr. High School in 1988 two years after it was built and was still a teacher 16 years later when the school made the separation into Houston Middle School and Houston High School. Mitchell noted a positive difference between students and faculty after making the split.

She liked “working on a high school level rather than a multiple age level.” She found that the older students’ lack of influence on the younger ones as well as trying to incorporate every age group in activities was better for everyone.

Over the years Mitchell has seen “a shift in the importance of education for students due to more responsibility,” such as having jobs and cars and experiencing life sooner.” Mitchell also says, “Technology has made major changes in education — some positive and some negative.”

Cell phones and other gadgets distract students, but on the flip side students have incredible accessibility to the world.

Mitchell feels with students’ exposure to the world through technology, as well as being the focal point of an instant-gratification society, America’s youth find themselves with adult dispositions sooner in life. These precocious attitudes of the 21st century are ones Mitchell won’t miss. Neither will she miss “trying to make students care” or grading papers.

However, Mitchell will miss the rejuvenating and vibrant energies of teenagers. “I enjoy being around them.”

She will also miss the camaraderie of staff and students at HHS. Mitchell confesses, “I will miss seeing my former students around town and seeing them with their families.”

It is a loss for the Mat-Su Valley to lose such a vital member of the community and purveyor of its formative years. Staff and students throughout the Valley will miss Mrs. Mitchell, but none so much as those in Houston.

Marilena Staudenmaier is a senior at Houston High School.