With the CHS community saying goodbye to the class of 2021 and wishing them well on the commencement to the next stage in their lives, it is doing the same for some deep-rooted and hallowed members of its faculty and staff. Moving on to new adventures or retirement are language arts teacher Mrs. Brixey, counselor and intervention specialist Mr. Murphy, and registrar Mrs. Wendlandt. While the three have served CHS for most of this century in diverse roles, at the same time they have helped to pull the school community even more tightly together with their consistent admiration, affection and care for the CHS student body.
Andrea Brixey is completing her 16th year teaching English Language Arts in the Cascade School District. In a reversal of the not uncommon path in the Upper Valley of moving from an outdoor job to teaching, Brixey is leaving CHS to become a backcountry guide. An avid outdoors woman and adventurer, Mrs. Brixey will still be a teacher of sorts, only that her classroom will be the North Cascades, for a time anyhow. Brixey also sees herself, down the road, back in a traditional schoolroom teaching, perhaps in Argentina, Portugal or even Mongolia. During her lengthy stint at CHS, Andrea has seen what she believes to be three consequential developments: the arrival in the principal's office of Mr. Daley, whom she calls “kind, honest and a force for positive change, who connects really well with students, staff and families”; the evolution toward a younger, more energetic faculty, which has had “big, positive effects on our students”; the new building, “which has air conditioning, nice ceilings and no mice!” Brixey leaves with fond memories of “so many brave and curious students and staff” and “the opportunity to not only teach great books, but to be a student of them as well.” Of comfort to her is that moving from IRMS to join the CHS Language Arts Department is Mrs. Boggs, with whom Brixey taught years ago and refers to as “such a cool person!”
Lea Boggs is currently the IRMS eighth grade English Language Arts Teacher and will come to CHS with undergraduate degrees in History and Education (4th-12th Grade English/History/Social Studies), a Master’s in Education Literacy, and 24 years of teaching experience, the last thirteen at IRMS. While Boggs “will miss the crazy vibe of middle school students” and her “wonderful teaching partners,” she is “very excited” to move across the education campus to work with older students.
Brooks Murphy, who has been the Intervention Specialist for CHS and the District for the last 19 years, is retiring. Murphy, over the last two decades, has been a dedicated and beloved counselor, mentor and friend to many CHS students who needed just such a person in critical phases of their young lives. In addition to working with “some of the best colleagues anyone could ask for,” Mr. Murphy feels that the most rewarding aspect of his career has been “helping kids, who struggled in high school, to go on to have fulfilling adult lives and families. The key has been to love these kids and never, ever give up on them.” In retirement, Murphy plans to travel the U.S. with his wife Teri, especially to the national parks, which are dear to him, and to spend as much time as he can with his five children and six grandchildren.
Longer still than Mr. Murphy, Kathy Wendlandt, a graduate of Peshastin-Dryden High School (and Washington State University) has been at CHS for 31 years – more than almost anyone else. Most recently, Wendlandt has been the school Registrar and advisor to the CHS Equestrian Team. An avid horsewoman and equestrian herself, Mrs. Wendlandt is looking forward to a well-deserved retirement traveling with her husband Paul, spending more time with family and continuing to volunteer with the Equestrian Team. She will miss most at CHS “the simple daily interactions with students and staff. The kids, the teachers, the administration – we all make such a great Kodiak family.”
When considering the departure of the three, the head of the “Kodiak family,” Mr. Daley, said that “Ms. Brixey, Ms. Wendlandt and Mr. Murphy are leaving CHS with big shoes to fill. Collectively, they hold quite a bit of institutional knowledge. Each of them was the anchor of departments crucial to teaching at, and the running of, CHS. They'll be missed not only for their professionalism and dedication, but also for the people they are and the spirit they brought to our community. I wish them so well on the next step of their journeys, and hope they return to visit us often.” Similar fond feelings for the three were also expressed by CHS students: senior Sasha Morgan recalled that Mrs. Wendlandt “helped me not only to assemble and order my equestrian life, but in personal life as well. I’m really going to miss her”; freshman Molly Renner-Singer, daughter of CHS faculty, knows Mr. Murphy as “a member of the community whom all faculty, staff and students regard as good-hearted as they come”; senior Rory Swoboda, when musing on Mrs. Brixey said that “Brixey is not just an amazing teacher, she also has the ability to bring a smile to my face and just make me feel good about being me.”
When asked for some parting words of wisdom for current and future CHS students, Brixey, Brooks and Wendlandt, not coincidentally given their positive outlooks on life, offered like sentiments of doing what makes one happy, whether that be rooted in career, service to others, family or a combination of those. Mrs. Brixey summarized it by quoting American philosopher and mythologist Joseph Campbell: “If you are ever confused as to which path to take in life, ‘follow your bliss.’”
Please take a moment to write a note below of welcome to Mrs. Boggs and farewell to Mr. Murphy and Mrs. Brixey and Wendlandt.
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