Tuesday September 25, Heather Anderson announced to her black day students that after five years at NHS, she will be resigning from Noblesville Schools in order to take a position at Elwood. Anderson will be the coordinator of interventions, high ability, and English as a New Language. Once at Elwood, she hopes to make a big difference in the district and the way the school functions.

When it comes to academics and understanding of the curriculum with a 39% ISTEP passing rate, Elwood could use a bit of help in order to improve that passing rate percentage.

“Currently Elwood is a troubled school district. They’re having a lot of issues with testing scores and things that factor into their school grade, so on the surface things don’t look that great,” Anderson said.

However, with a new superintendent, assistant superintendent, and coordinator of interventions, that will all change. Anderson, along with the other news staff members, all have the motivation and willingness to put in all of the hard work in order to meet the goal of making Elwood a better place, according to Anderson.

“[Elwood] needs somebody to come in and really help their staff [and] be motivated to grow. I think that there has been a long time at the district where things that were acceptable, might not have been in the best interest for students,” Anderson said.

When comparing Elwood to Noblesville, there is a huge difference in education and how the schools functions, considering test scores and the quality of teaching.

“Noblesville is very collaborative in the fact that teachers have a lot of ability and opportunities to work together, to grow together [and] attend professional development. [Noblesville’s] teachers like to lift one another to be better overall,” Anderson said.

Many students, like sophomore Andrea Costa, say they will miss Anderson and being in her class.

“I was really upset to find out she was resigning, but when she told us why she was I was kind of happy for her,” Costa said. “She made everything interesting and fun. I was never really bored in her class.”

Junior Jackson Schwartz couldn’t agree more when speaking of taking her English class.

“Mrs. Anderson is a phenomenal teacher and probably my favorite teacher of all time. She made English, my least favorite class, one of my favorites as she kept it fun and worthwhile to learn,” Schwartz said.

Not only do students say she is an amazing teacher, but an amazing person. Anderson is described by other students as kind, bluntly honest, fun, comical, and outgoing.

 “She always made time for all of her students whether she really had the time or not,” Schwartz said. “She gave everyone an opportunity for success even if they had done something to not deserve it.”

Since being here, Anderson says she has definitely enjoyed her time and grown not only as a teacher, but a person as well. Before leaving, she touched on a subject all students can relate to.

“There’s a lot of expectations placed on the youth of today that didn’t used to exist and we live in a society that wants results right now,” said Anderson. “So there’s a lot of pressure on people to be able to deliver on that and to be able to turn out work very quickly and be able to be the best.”

Anderson admits that she acknowledges how students now have this excessive amount of pressure on them with school and extracurricular activities, so she has offered some advice for her past and present students at NHS about how to deal with this.

 “[There is] a lot of pressure to have a lot of immediacy to [master] something. There’s only 24 hours in a day, I think definitely time management and using time more effectively is something that kids need to keep working on,” Anderson said.

Numerous students and staff say they will miss Anderson and the positivity and joy she brings to those around her.

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Photo by Photo by K. Reynolds

Anderson gives her opinion on potato chips and fries during the student led debate.

“The students are why I do this,” said Anderson. “They’re why I’m in education.”