Every school has one: A teacher that students hear about long before ever stepping foot inside her classroom, one whose strict lessons are legendary, one who leaves such a strong impression on her students they remember her long after they have received their last report card in her class.
At Churchill Road Elementary, that teacher is Mary Vesely, a fifth-grade Language Arts teacher who will soon be retiring after more than 30 years in the school.
“She is beloved in this community,” said Don Hutzel, principal at Churchill Road. “She loves the kids. She could’ve received accolades from all over. Parents always want to nominate her for awards, but she always declines. She has an amazing zeal for the students.”
Vesely, who has been teaching at Churchill Road since 1969, believes her enthusiasm for teaching and her passion for the school comes directly from her students.
“I can see the future through them,” she says, the sincerity in her voice as clear as the sparkle in her eyes. “They’re excited to come into the classroom and learn. How can you help but get excited with them? I think we all have a gift in this life, and I’ve been so happy that my gift has been working with the children.”
Calling her vocation as a teacher “the biggest blessing in my life,” Vesely believes those who teach do so because of their “loving, caring, nurturing” personalities. The job can be frustrating at times, but having an administration that allows teachers to use their own methods is helpful.
“If the administration gives a teacher the freedom to do our job in our own way, if you get support from the people around you, it’s so much better,” she said. “There’s no teacher that does this job alone.”
Vesely remembers when she started teaching at Churchill Road: The smell of fresh-baked bread greeted her every morning, and the building was a long hallway without walls to divide the school into classrooms.
“We didn’t have a gym when I first started here,” she said. “The ditto machine, and I mean ditto machine, was in the closet. We did multi-age grouping in classes. I taught second, third and fourth grades all together,” she said.
Putting her hand on a white brick wall in Hutzel’s office, she laughed and said, “I’ve been here longer than this brick!”
Throughout the years, she has developed relationships with her students that have lasted, in some cases, long beyond high school. One student sent her a photograph from her wedding.
“To know that she thought of me on this incredibly important day of her life is just so touching,” she said.
“One of our gifts we have as educators is the impact we have on people’s lives,” Hutzel said. “Mary is a part of so many people’s lives.”
It’s not always an easy job, she said, and sometimes meeting the needs of the individual students in her classes can become challenging.
“Teaching, to me, is almost a 24-hour-per-day job, seven days a week,” she said. “The subjects I teach, I spend hours grading. I want to make sure I get the children’s work back to them when I say I will because if it’s important enough for them to do, it’s important enough for me to look at.”
The love of the profession keeps her going.
“I think of how sad it is to go to work every day at something you don’t enjoy and feel very blessed,” she said. “There is no way I could stop working with children. I like to look back and think a part of me lives on in them. Leaving here is bittersweet.”
Her teaching style has evolved over her career, she said, noting that flexibility is one of the most important qualities a teacher can have with students.
“You’re constantly improving. As you teach and as you grow in the profession, we’re exposed to many different ideas. To be able to pull and continue to use things that fit you as a teacher, you’re able to do away with things that don’t work for you,” she said.
Her greatest teacher has been the students in her classroom, she said. “They taught me how to laugh, they taught me patience and flexibility, how to give and forgive, how to be a better person,” she said.
Vesely teaches on a team of three teachers at Churchill Road, and her co-workers are not sure how they will get by without her help next year.
“She’s taught me to keep the important things in perspective,” said fellow teacher Deana Coast. “I go to her about everything. She helps me as much outside of school as in the classroom.”
Working with fifth-grade students is challenging, but Coast said Vesely has given her guidance on how to keep things under control.
“She’s a rock,” she said. “She keeps things very consistent, she holds every child accountable for every assignment she gives them.”
On the first day of class, Vesely writes a message to her new students, Coast said. “She writes ‘I am strict but fair’ on her board so everyone knows what to expect,” she said.
“I was a new teacher in America when I started at Churchill Road,” said Jin Hi He, who has worked with Vesely since 1997. “She’s been my best mentor. She’s totally devoted to teaching. Her conviction is phenomenal.”
Vesely is “a symbol of an excellent Language Arts teacher,” he said. “She’s still teaching punctuation to her students, and sometimes parents will come in and learn with their children,” he said.
At the end of each school year, Vesely provides each student with bound, laminated copies of their work from throughout the year, he said. “They might not be happy about all the assignments she gives them during the year, but when they get the book at the end, they really cherish the experience.”
Vesely’s retirement will be felt within the school and the community alike, he said.
“Everyone who knows her will miss her,” he said. “It’s going to be a big loss for the upcoming children who won’t have her as their teacher. She’s changed so many people’s lives … I’ve been fortunate to have taught with her for so long, and I know I’m going to miss her big-time.”
With the end of the year approaching, Vesely said she is not thinking about her last day in the classroom yet.
“My husband and I usually leave that day for some kind of trip, but I’m not sure if we’ll do that this year,” she said, adding that she is not planning on doing anything special because it is too hard to think about not teaching again in the fall.
She plans to do all the usual things once she is not teaching anymore: gardening, traveling, reading and enjoying life. “I’m not going to be one of those people who leave and never come back,” she said. “I’ll be around, I’m just not sure in what way.”
The hardest thing to walk away from will be watching a child learn, she said.
“To look at a child figure something out, especially if it’s something they’ve struggled with, to see that light go on is amazing,” she said. “You never stop learning.”
Hutzel said he is grateful to have worked with Vesely for several years. “When Mary arrives every morning, we have a laugh. What more can I ask for from the people I work with?” he said. “She brings insight and intelligence to the table.”
Listening to Vesely talk about her teaching experience is “amazing,” he said. “When she gets reflective, she has amazing insight on education.”
With the story of her teaching career at Churchill Road coming to an end, Vesely said she was not sure which punctuation mark she would use, an exclamation point for the excitement and love she has always had for the students, or an ellipsis.
“I think an ellipsis would be better, because you never know what’s coming next,” she said.
There will be a community reception for Vesely at the school on Wednesday, June 1 starting at 6 p.m., Hutzel said. Parents and former students are being asked to submit stories or words of thanks to Vesely either by mailing them directly to the school at 7100 Churchill Road, McLean, or by e-mailing them to veselyparty@yahoo.com by May 27, he said.
“She’s made a phenomenal contribution to our community for many years,” he said, and the party will be a chance for them to thank Vesely for her years of hard work. “Her life force comes from the kids, so I know she’ll still be a visible presence in our building. We will all miss her.”