Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
We would like to nominate Mrs. Roundy of Clearfield High School (CHS) for your Teacher Feature. Mrs. Roundy has been a teacher for over 29 years now. She has a decorated career in the Special Education Department, where she has taught kids ranging from those with severe physical disabilities to those who suffer with emotional instability. These kids have been between the ages of five and twenty years old. If you are looking for a teacher who has given everything that she has, Mrs. Roundy is that teacher. She has been our teacher for many years, she is our mother. We believe that she is incredibly deserving of this award because of all the qualities that she exhibits every day at school, continuing into her personal life with her children and grandchildren.
After battling a near fatal case of Pneumococcal Pneumonia in 1995, Mrs. Roundy was instructed to dramatically cut down on her work load. Most teachers would naturally cut down in their job - not her. Year after year Mrs. Roundy talks of retirement, due to the ongoing health issues that leave her so fatigued at nights she can't stay awake to eat dinner. However, there is always one thing that keeps her coming back - the students. Mrs. Roundy has a unique genuine love for her students that we have never understood before. She talks of her students as if they were her own children, which in no way disrupts the love that she has and shows to her own five children.
]Over several years, there have been countless times that our mom has put in many extra hours at school, and even had students meet her at the library, or at our home. She helped them with homework, resumes, fixing car problems, or even to sew a costume for the school play or Halloween. She has many talents, which she uses to help her students in and out of the classroom, refusing to stop helping simply because the bell rings at the end of the day. Mrs. Roundy teaches the applied and life skills classes to at risk students at CHS. Some of these students have dropped out, been in jail, lived on the streets, most have broken homes, and yet have come back, many on their last chance. She spends many hours helping students find the positive aspects in their lives, and then instructing them to focus on those things. She also helps them to get out of the "dirt" in their lives. She teaches life skills pushing her students to finish their credits so that they can graduate. This seems so easy to most of us, but coming from the background these students have—giving up, living on the streets, doing and/or dealing drugs, pregnancy, and stealing are just a few examples—it is a major accomplishment. It is a feat that can provide much needed confidence and a start to something different, something better. Mrs. Roundy has a way with these students and year after year she goes back because she makes a difference in their lives. This is evident form the lasting relationships she ahs with many of her students.
Special Education teachers have the toughest job of all the teachers in our minds (two of us are regular education teachers). They have a unique way of thinking and an ability to identify with all types of students. They understand that each individual is distinctive with different capabilities. Mrs. Roundy finds the great things that each student possesses and helps them to develop these talents. She knows the educational system back and forth, and will do anything possible to help her students graduate and pursue success in areas that use their newly refined talents and which are congruent with their interests and goals. Her individual education plans (IEP) take so much extra time to do. Most of her days are far more than contract time. Her carpool partner knows this all too well as he has waited for her on numerous occasions while she finishes IEP's with parents and students (FYI: carpool partner is a son-in-law). She takes pride in doing her best and making sure her students are on track. If a students file needs work, Mrs. Roundy will take the file home and work on it. She does this for other teachers also. She has more homework than some students can probably imagine. Mrs. Roundy is the most caring, giving, and loving teacher we know. She will bend over backwards to help someone achieve what they don't feel is even possible. For the kids she teaches it begins as a simple class or an unattainable diploma, but it ends up being much more. She is not just teaching abstract concepts or conceptual ideas like many of teachers, she is teaching the most important skills we all need and use everyday, skills that her students often would not otherwise learn, much to their detriment and to society's as well.
If someone is positive, happy, and self confident they have a stronger chance to survive and succeed in the challenging world that awaits. Mrs. Roundy is teaching this daily to her students. She also helps us, her children, understand the importance of being teachers in every aspect of life. She gives everything she has to help her students succeed and she exemplifies the definition of a true teacher.
Submitted by Mrs. Roundy's children
Tiffany Rees, Monica Cowan, TaLonnie Sullivan, Anthony Roundy, Andrew Roundy
WE LOVE YOU MOM!!
