Monday, February 28, 2011
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
Photo
Retiring Fitch High School media teacher Harold Wilson in the school's media center. Wilson is calling quits after 37 years in the Austintown district.
AUSTINTOWN
A corner of the Fitch High School media center will look bare Tuesday.
“It will be a much emptier room,” said media specialist Harold Wilson, who, along with his wall of student photos, flag collection and penguins, will have departed.
“When I moved from Frank Ohl [middle school] to the high school, it took five hours to take them down from the ceiling,” he said — pointing to dozens of penguin figurines and stuffed animals he’d acquired as a “big-time YSU fan.”
The Austintown native and graduate of Kent State University and Youngstown State University is retiring after 37 years in the district. Wilson, 58, said he’s looking forward to more free time, but he’ll miss working with students.
“That’s the greatest thing about this: the kids. You get to make friends with them, and you help direct them because there are a lot of kids who don’t have that,” he said.
As a librarian at Frank Ohl for about 27 years, Wilson knew each student in fifth and sixth grade. He moved to Fitch in 2001 where he’s developed lasting relationships with students whom he often sees around the community. He’s taught children of former students who still remember working for him as library aides at the middle school.
Wilson fondly recalled the time he attended the Motor Bowl college football game at Ford Field in Michigan where he saw a football player, a cheerleader and a fan whom he had as students.
Wilson’s wife, a fellow teacher at Fitch, has left him occasional notes in his lunch counting down the days to March 1, but both students and staff will miss Wilson in the media center.
“He is absolutely awesome,” said Natalie Winkle, a paraprofessional in the media center. “There’s definitely going to be a loss when he’s gone. His attitude with kids, his banter back and forth ... he never toots his own horn.”
Wilson knows many students by name and is well-liked by his student aides, who he occasionally has to quiet in a library setting, Winkle said.
“I’m still harsh and mean and nasty when I have to be,” he said.
Winkle hopes to continue the annual walking taco day when Wilson cooked for students to celebrate their hard work around the winter holidays.
“There are so many things teachers do for kids and all of these things are not a part of the job,” Wilson said, recounting stories of those students he’s helped on a personal level.
Wilson said he still plans to work with the local touring company that takes middle- and high-school students on field trips around the world. Through the program, he’s visited Australia, England, Scotland, Ireland and New Zealand, among others. He has flags from most countries hung near his desk.
Wilson is a father of two, but his thousands of past students are his family, too.
“These are my kids,” he said.