Teacher Leaves a Legacy of Pink

“I kept learning stuff, it’s almost the end of the year and I’m still learning more stuff,” said junior Kate Salpini about her IB English HL class taught by Pam Feil. “You can tell that whenever she talks about something, she feels passionate about it, and she wants us to experience that same kind of passion in what we’re learning. She always encourages us to learn more.”

Pam Feil is the kind of teacher that students seeking an excellent and thorough education in English hope to have. English teacher for regular and IB classes and Department Chair of English (a position she has held for 12 years), Feil is armed with a hoard of articles that further illuminate any given topic or book that she introduces to students, a meticulously planned calendar for each quarter and an ever present smile. She wakes up at 4:30 every morning, ready to give her students everything she’s got.

She has been teaching for the past 28 years of her life, 18 of those years at AHS. She has been involved with the IB English program since its inception, but after this year she is planning to retire.

Feil wanted to become a teacher since even before elementary school.  

“I’ve never wanted to be anything else but be a teacher, and an English teacher at that, but after this year, I want to spend more time with my mom,” said Feil.

She first talked to Principal John Ponton about retiring at the beginning of spring of this year and then broke the news about her retirement to the school at an English Department meeting on April 8.

“When I talked to Mr. Ponton, he said, ‘Is there anything we can do to make you stay?’” said Feil. “But this school has always understood that family comes first.”

Her current and former students’ reactions to the news of her retirement were representative of the same unwillingness to let her go.

“She was really the first English teacher to teach me how to appreciate and analyze literature. I will definitely miss the pink room and being able to continue visiting with
her at Annandale. She is one of the sweetest teachers I know. She will always be the first to ask you what’s wrong if you walk into her class upset,” said senior Elise Miles.

“When she broke the news to our class, I couldn’t believeit for a while. I can’t imagine the English hallway without her in it,” said junior Samantha Wilkins.

Feil shares the same seniments about her students.

“I will miss my students the most. There are so many people here, with so many lives. I admire the tenacity of people who transcend hardships to get an education,” said
Feil. “The wide variance in personality and the different things that students teach me is what makes teaching worthwhile.”

When Feil leaves, she will leave behind not only the students that have been forever changed by her teaching and take-charge attitude towards life, but also the legacy
of the pink room. It seems that everyone who has passed through the English hall has glimpsed the bright swaths of pink-flowers, figurines, cards, stuffed animals- that cover
almost every inch of the room of Feil’s room.

“The pink started when I bought pink office supplies
from Staples. I wanted to stick to one color for homogenity. Then two of my friends died from breast cancer and I became involved with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer
Foundation. The rest of the pink things are all gifts and momentos that my students have given me over the years,” said Feil, “Pink is kind of soothing to have at school.”

The pink room is not the only testimony of the gratitude and love that students have for Feil. She stills keep in contact, by email or instant messaging, with many of her
former kids, and promises that she will continue to do so.

English teacher Augustine Twyman will become Department Chair and teach IB English Higher Level II next year, while new teachers will be hired and trained to teach
regular and IB classes.

AHS students and faculty however, will also be missing
numerous other teachers and faculty members next year. French and Theory of Knowledge teacher Patricia Heininge will be leaving at the end of this year to teach at
Rachel Carson Middle School.

“I’m not ready at all to retire, but moving to Rachel Carson which is only a mile from my house makes my commute much easier,” said Heininge. Science teacher Carol Osborne is retiring after 14 years of teaching, all at AHS.

“I am still enthusiastic about teaching at AHS, but it is time to let the younger teachers take over,” said Osborne,

“One of my first students, Neal Jarvis, is now a Geosystems teacher here, doing a wonderful job teaching the same subject that I taught.”

English and Peer Tutoring teacher Jennifer Carey looks forward to attending graduate school after this year, while Library Assistant Betty Gardner is retiring after 10 years at AHS and 21 years in FCPS. Spanish teacher Erik Giblin is leaving after his first year of teaching at AHS to work with the Diocese of Richmond for the Hispanic  postolate, where he will be coordinating the church’s activities relating to the Hispanic community.

A total of nine teachers and faculty members are retiring and 12 are leaving AHS to work at other schools or for other causes at the end of this year.