by Katie Ng ’25

Michelle Games taught a range of classes during her time at Sherwood.

A number of teachers and other staff members are departing from Sherwood this school year, leaving Sherwood with a lasting legacy over their years as impactful teachers. Some are retiring for personal reasons; others are transferring to other schools in the county. 

A few teachers retired from Sherwood before the end of first semester, including French teacher John Falls, who taught a total of 31 years. He taught 18 years at Sherwood and was the World Languages Department resource teacher for 15 of them. He decided to retire to take care of his parents and move on to new chapters of his life, and he misses the students he taught and interacted with. 

Falls is enjoying new activities during his retirement. “After traveling a bit, I decided to volunteer as a tour guide at Woodlawn Mansion,” said Falls. “I give tours of the mansion and the path of the underground railroad.” The best part of his retirement life, he told The Warrior, was spending more time at the gym, and having more time to see friends. 

Entrepreneurship teacher Catina Wist retired the same day as Falls on December 31. Wist’s roles varied, including staff development teacher and student internship coordinator. In late November, special education teacher Donovan Clark retired as well. 

In addition to the teachers who have already retired, social studies teacher Michelle Games, biology teacher Mary Baker, and cooking teacher Lisa Gilbert will retire at the end of this school year. Games taught her whole career at Sherwood for 30 years, and she is now eligible to collect her full pension. “The students are the best part of teaching,” said Games about what she will miss most after her departure.

Baker taught high school for 16 years. She started at Springbrook, taught at Sherwood for a couple years, and ended up transferring to Clarksburg. Eventually, she came back to Sherwood. She was eligible to retire last school year but waited to see her senior homeroom graduate. Baker plans to substitute teach for the science department and for her daughter who is a teacher, help write the MISA test, and travel.  

“I will miss the students, even the ‘annoying ones,’” said Baker. “I love a challenge and finding ways to make my topics interesting and understandable. I know I can’t get everyone to ‘love’ science, but if I can get each of them to, at least once, think something we are learning about is cool, I’m happy.”

Gilbert has been teaching since the fall of 2016. She chose to retire with her husband and they are moving to West Virginia soon. Gilbert stated that she will miss her students, some of them who have become chefs. 

Though a few teachers are retiring from teaching, engineering teacher Brendan Lees is transferring schools. Lees taught 18 years at Sherwood and 23 years total. He started out as a math teacher and then in 2009 started the engineering program Project Lead the Way (PLTW) at Sherwood. He will transfer to Rosa Parks Middle School. “We have some incredible staff here that I will definitely miss,” said Lees. “Mr. Daigle and I started and built our engineering program here. He is an amazing colleague to work with that cares about students succeeding just as much as me. I will also miss my awesome engineering students and seeing all of the great universities they get accepted into and attend.”

Lastly, registrar Jaime Fuller and special education teachers Amber Dean and Maggie Fletcher will be departing Sherwood at the end of this school year. Fuller chose to leave Sherwood because she wants to change directions in her career. Dean will transfer to Richard Montgomery High School to be closer to where she lives, and Fletcher will become the Resource Teacher for special education at Rosa Parks.