Hall of Fame Career

Those of you who follow sports know that if a professional baseball player gets 3,000 hits over the course of a career, that player will almost certainly end up with a permanent shrine in the Baseball Hall of Fame. I don't know how many of you follow baseball, but 3,000 base hits is a tremendous and difficult thing. It must be if it results in such an honor.

Teaching is also a tremendous and difficult thing. So what happens when a teacher retires after teaching almost 3,000 students over the course of a career in the same school district? There's no Hall of Fame for that, but doggone it, there should be.

This spring Carol Brill will retire from Gobles Public Schools having taught somewhere around 3,000 different students over the course of a career that reaches back into the 1960's. In her nearly forty years in the classroom Mrs. Brill has seen it all and done it all, and all the while remained a loving, steady, positive presence for her students.

If you were to ask Mrs. Brill about teaching as the country changed through the Vietnam era, or about how racial tension of the 1970's affected us here in the Gobles era, or how computers changed the work of teachers, or about how many times she's seen (and had to adjust) to the latest, greatest thing, she could tell you about all the change that has happened to our culture, and in education. She has seen so many changes over the course of her career.

But what has kept her in it for forty years is the thing that hasn't changed at all, and the thing she's best at: teens are teens, and they have always and will always need people like Carol Brill to help them grow up. I can't imagine how many heartbreaks Carol Brill has heard about in forty years and helped mend, or how many big shot athletes that needed help to pass the test, or how many times a shy young kid bloomed with confidence because of the extra attention she got from her English teacher.

During her career she has coached, directed plays, led field trips, stayed late into the night grading papers or calling parents, attended countless athletic events, held the hands of students who just needed somebody to care about them through a difficult time. She has mentored and supported new teachers coming into the profession, including teachers who once sat in front of her as students. She has believed in the mission of our school district and the calling of her profession, and given both of those things all that she has to give.

People like Carol Brill can't be replaced. When she retires at the end of this school year, Gobles Public Schools will lose all the memory and compassion that a long and wonderful career can hold.  Like many of her colleagues, Mr. Brill is a graduate of Gobles, and has spent the majority of her life learning and teaching in the same building. She has been making our school and community better for as long as most of us can remember.  

So there are 3,000 of you out there who know what I'm talking about. You won't be able to go to a hall of fame to pay tribute to Mrs. Brill after she retires, but you could drop her a note, or you might run into her around town somewhere soon, or sometime down the road. If you get a chance, it's time to say thanks  and congratulations (certainly more than most teachers get much of the time), to wish her well and acknowledge everything she has given to this community. 

I don't want to take anything away from baseball players, but 3,000 base hits is really nothing compared to dedicating your life to the education and development of 3,000 students. It was a Hall of Fame career. 

Note: This blog post is from a series originally published as personal essays written for the Van Buren County Advertiser from 2008-2014 by Corey Harbaugh under the title It's All Good. The It's All Good columns were written to feature and celebrate life in and around Gobles, Michigan.