Marsh to retire after 42 years BY NIKITA DHESIKAN & HIMA RAJANA
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ssistant Principal Sydney Marsh will be retiring at the end of the 2012 to 2013 school year after 42 years of working at Lynbrook. Marsh started out as a “work-study student” in 1970, when Lynbrook had been open for only �ive years. She worked as a theater tech and aimed to put on Lynbrook’s �irst musical while simultaneously earning her Master’s degree at San Jose State University. After two years, Marsh was hired as an English teacher through an internship program. She spent her next 34 years at Lynbrook in the classroom, teaching English, art and theater. In addition, she authored several Blue Ribbon School reports, advised the cheerleading team and served as the National Honor Society advisor and Thespian Society advisor. “By 2006, I just needed change,” she said. “I had done different things over the years, different programs, different committees in the district, but I wanted to shake it up a little. At that point, it felt like the time to really take a big leap.” In order to “shake it up,” she decided to get her administrative credential through an FUHSD-SJSU partnership and become an assistant principal. Now, six years later, she has decided to move on and pursue other goals. “It wasn’t an easy decision,” she said. “From the time I was 21 to now, my life has been at Lynbrook High School. This school is my whole world other than my home. To think that I’m planning to leave all that—it’s really hard.” For the past 42 years, Marsh has been a constant presence at Lynbrook. She has witnessed the switch from typewriters to laptops in classes and has also witnessed campus remodeling projects such as the pool and �ield. She has even seen current guidance counselor and Class of 1994 alumnus Shana Howden grow from her former English student to her colleague. “I can honestly say that if it weren’t for Mrs. Marsh, I wouldn’t even be in education,”
said Howden. “I can’t tell you how much of an effect Mrs. Marsh has had on my life.” On making her decision to retire, Marsh said, “I was in Aptos and I looked out over the ocean, I thought about how lovely free time would be. That was pretty much it. The time is right.” Although Marsh reconsidered her decision to retire when Principal Gail Davidson announced her retirement in January, she ultimately came to the conclusion that the school would continue to grow despite the loss of two administrators in the same year. “For me, I think the idea of retiring really came up when I realized that I had done these projects enough,” she said. “I still feel so healthy and so young, which is because I’ve been around students my entire life. I think it’s time that I do the next challenge and have some fun in another avenue.” After retiring from Lynbrook, Marsh is not completely sure what she will do next but some of her plans include working with student teachers at a university, doing volunteer work in domestic violence awareness, working at a museum and traveling to Vermont. “No matter how well you plan, you never really have life totally �igured out,” said Marsh, re�lecting on her past and on her goals for the future. “You just go where it leads you.” “Working with students teachers is just so fun,” said Marsh. “When you get on the same mental wave as the student teacher, and then he or she has an epiphany—that’s what I really enjoy.” Before she leaves, however, one of her goals is to guide the new Assistant Principal of School Climate through the transition. “I’d like to make things ready for the new person,” she said. “I think it’s important to talk them through some of the things that we do. I hope we can keep some of our traditions like Pay Day brunches, where I usually set out a treat and some coffee for the staff.” While it is not certain who will be hired, Marsh hopes that the decision will be made before the end of the school year. “When I made my announcement to the
staff at our last Pay Day brunch, I was looking over the sea of people, some of which I’ve been working with my entire life and others which I have worked really closely with in the last year. Everyone was looking at me and smiling,” she said. ”I’m going to miss that. I’ve also formed close bonds with many, many students,” said Marsh. “Mrs. Marsh retiring is really a bittersweet event for me,” said Howden about her retirement. “I’m happy for her because I know she’s going to do well taking on new challenges, but I’m de�initely going to miss having someone on campus who I know will unconditionally support me.” Senior Byrne Greider, who went to Australia as an exchange student throughout summer 2012 and into part of �irst semester, also felt the reach of Marsh’s support. “She has always been so helpful, especially when I had decided to spend three months in Australia which overlapped the �irst month of school. She often has to play the bad cop at a high school so obviously some students don’t take that very well, but I know she just does what she does because she cares about all the students. I think she has handled it very well and she’s never stopped caring,” said Greider. Looking back on her work experience at Lynbrook, Marsh has no big regrets, although she does wish she could have changed one thing about her job. “Because of the nature of my job, I don’t really have contact with all the students at Lynbrook, but only students who need support for different reasons to keep our school environment safe and healthy,” said Marsh. “I wish I could have interacted with more students in different ways.” Although there is no speci�ic event that sticks out in Marsh’s mind as her best memory, she feels that there are several small parts of her job that have left a large impact on her. She said, “The monthly parties that we plan on the Lynbrook Staff Association, or sweetnatured students that say ‘Hi Ms. Marsh!’ when they see me out on traf�ic duty, that’s what I’m going to miss.”
JOEY LI—EPIC
New baseball field to be inaugurated Feb. 16 BY RANI MAVRAM & HENRY SHANGGUAN
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ynbrook will be celebrating the Phase II grand opening of the new baseball and softball �ields on Feb. 16 in conjunction with Lynbrook’s �ifth annual Baseball Celebration Weekend. The celebration, organized by team parents Miko Otoshi and Jennifer Cousins, will feature three games, a burrito lunch which includes a dessert buffet, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a ceremonial pitch made by a district of�icial and senior ASB President Stephanie Hahm. The of�icial openings of the football �ield and Stober �ield took in place in September and October of 2012.. The new baseball �ield is still located in the same position as before, but now includes batting cages in addition to new scoreboards, bleachers and shed. Otoshi and Cousins organized this event
as “an ideal way to kick off our baseball season,” similar to the inaugurations for the football �ield and Stober Field to kick off football and �ield hockey. They also hope this will be a good opportunity for baseball fans and members of the school community to take part in starting the baseball tradition on the new �ield. “It was important to us that each stage of the opening of the �ields be celebrated since they are a big step for our community and our teams as a whole,” said Co-Athletic Director Jeremy Kitchen. The opening ceremony will feature three baseball games throughout the day. The �irst game between the varsity and JV team starts at 9 a.m. The losing team will continue on to play the alumni team at 11 a.m. After the two games, there will be a burrito lunch beginning at 12 p.m. catered by Rio Adobe Southwest Cafe, followed by a dessert buffet for $12 per bag. The meals can also be
pre-ordered ahead of time for the event. The opening will also include an of�icial ribbon-cutting ceremony followed by a ceremonial �irst pitch thrown by a school district of�icial to mark the beginning of the championship game between the winner of the previous two match-ups. Senior Kyle Williams believes the �ield has helped the team greatly and made practices more ef�icient. “The batting cages have really helped me with my hitting, especially to �ind the consistency when I’m batting, during practice as well” said Williams. In addition to providing team members with more resources to develop their batting skills, the new �ield provides a new location to store equipment and supplies, which was previously unavailable. JV Coach Michael McCloskey said, the new �ield has “brought a level of excitement that is unmatched and unforeseen.”
LHS Super Bowl pg. 13