Written By: Aj Rai and Lily Dawson|

We walked in freshman year new to the building, to the environment, the faculty, and administration. One faculty member new to the school that year was Kathleen Neumann. From her first days at The Morgan School, she had a passion for teaching. What made her stand out to the student body was that she always had a smile and warmly welcomed her students into the classroom. In addition, Kathleen Neumann easily connected with her students and motivated them to do their best.

Mrs. Neumann has been an inspiration for everyone, and although she only spent a short period of time here, she has helped so many students and faculty members. We are definitely going to miss her, but she is moving on to what she has been wanting to do for a while. Mrs. Neumann will be moving to Portland, Maine this Friday February 14th: “I have always wanted to be a museum school program manager.”  She told us. “I am  going to miss Morgan very much. One thing I’ll miss about Morgan are my colleagues.” She then told us how she is passionate about teaching at Morgan, but she wants to pursue her dreams. Who can blame Mrs. Neumann for chasing her dreams?

One quality we will miss of Mrs. Neumann’s  is her sarcasm. Her sarcasm helped those long periods go by quickly, and those normal periods go by even faster. Even though she seemed stern, she always had a way of putting a smile on many people’s faces. Sophie Roman told us, ” I’m so sad that she’s leaving. She has always been the bright part of my day. I love her.” Mrs. Neumann will truly be missed. We also asked Brandon Novak on his opinion of Mrs. Neumann’s class. He responded, ” I liked her class because of her unusual sense of humor”.

Not only did the students have great things to say about Mrs. Neumann, but so did her colleagues. “Mrs. Neumann is one of the finest teachers I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with,” said Ms. Rizzo, another social studies teacher in the department. “I will miss collaborating and just talking to her on a daily basis.” Mr. Motter, the department chair of social studies, stated, “I’m happy for her but sorry we are losing such a great teacher. She will be hard to replace.” Other teachers contributed some comments, and everyone had only great things to say about her. When we asked Zwad, he said,” I’ll miss her. She’s my BFFL.” Later Mrs. Shook explained she’s,” the rock of this department.” The bond that the history department shared was incredible. They are inseparable, and Mrs. Neumann leaving has left them in shock.

In addition to teaching,  Mrs. Neumann did activities outside of school and was a founder of the “Straight but not Narrow Club.”  When asked about the club’s fate after her departure, she said, “they are a strong people and will find a new advisor.”   Mrs. Neumann did research for Mystic Seaport. Doing research is something that Mrs. Neumann enjoys doing, and she will being doing a lot of it while working at the museum. When we asked Mr. Graham for his opinion, he was content about Mrs. Neumann’s decisions and said, “she has taken the idea of museum into her personal life.”

Mrs. Neumann was one the most positive people in the school, and she made an impact on many people’s lives.

We’ll miss you Mrs. Neumann!