Janelle Bates

English, journalism and yearbook teacher Sunset High School, class of 1971

SCHOOL DAYS: When Bates was a student, Sunset had no air conditioning.

“We had large fans, and even the ladies sweat,” she says.

Bates was on the newspaper staff, and the paper was called The Stampede.

“The newspaper was for the thinkers, and the yearbook was where the socialites were,” she laughs. “And now I’ve gotten socialized.”

THE JOURNEY BACK: After graduating, Bates pursued journalism. She worked as a journalist in Rockwall County.

During her second year on the job, she started to think, “I’m just reporting on what’s going on. I’m not helping anybody.”

She decided to earn her alternative certification in teaching and did her observational student teaching in Sunset during summer 1993. Ten years into her teaching career, she returned to Sunset — again.

WHAT’S CHANgED: Bates says the demographic of the school has gone from predominantly white to majority Hispanic.

She also says the student body has grown so large that there’s no longer a teacher’s lounge. There were two lounges when she was a student.

“Sometimes it’s weird to teach where you went to school, and sometimes it just feels normal,” she says.

BISON PRIDE: Scribbled on the board in Bates’ purple classroom are the words: “I was a bison long before you were born.”

Bates says she has probably half a dozen stuffed bison as well as a couple of bison throws.

“I am a bison, and I’ll always be a bison,” Bates says.

She’s even fond of eating bison chili and stew that she makes herself because she says it’s healthy.

“My question is: Is it cannibalistic to eat bison chili?”

WHAT’S THE SAME: Students still try to sleep in class just as Bates did when she was a student. She says they often ask, “Why won’t you let us do so and so?” to which she responds, “Because I did.”

Bates says she has a “tough mother love” for her students.

“I love the kids. They’re my kids, and they know it,” she says.