Romoser saying ‘goodbye’ to teaching in 2023
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Next year, after nineteen years of teaching, Mrs. Diane Romoser will retire. Romoser came to Chrisman Elementary in the spring of 2004 when she was hired to cover a teacher who was on maternity leave.
“I was hired to be a fourth grade teacher for the 2004-2005 school year and have been here ever since,” Romoser said.
Diane grew up on a farm in Catlin and attended the Catlin school district. It was in first grade when she realized that she wanted to be a teacher.
“Mrs. Collins knew all of our names when we entered the classroom on the very first day,” Romoser told us. “That impressed me so much that she would know us even though we have never met.”
She credits Collins for instilling in the students that they were a school family, something that she has continued to carry with her in her teaching career.
“I feel the same way about all of the students that I have worked with over the past eighteen years. We talk a lot about that every year.”
Though she chose the path of being a teacher, plans were different while she was in high school.
“During high school, I took a Horticulture class at V.O.T.E.C. and found a new path,” she said. “I received a degree in Flori-culture from Danville Junior College and worked at Burgoyne’s Flower Shop in Georgetown for a few years before the teaching desire struck.”
In addition to working at the flower shop, Romoser was also a teacher’s aide in Ridge Farm Schools.
When she got married to her husband, Gary, that’s when she made the decision to become a teacher.
“I teach fourth grade and love working with this age of children.”
After teaching for so long, finding just one thing to love about teaching can be difficult, but one that comes to mind is the ‘light bulb’ moment.
“There’s nothing more rewarding than when your students get it. I also treasure the time spent with all of my students, they are all so different, yet so much alike,” Romoser said. “They all truly want to be at school and enjoy learning. Some may say and act like they don’t, but I believe otherwise.”
When COVID shut down schools for the 2020 school year, then reopened for the 2021 year, it put a strain on the teachers.
Additional work due to others being ‘quarantined’, the responsibility of keeping students socially distanced and keeping their masks on changed the dynamic of teaching.
Many teachers have taken other jobs or just quit all together, giving up a job that they have loved for so long. Teaching in a pre-COVID setting is drastically different than a post-COVID setting.
“The one thing that I don’t appreciate about my job at this moment is the fact that the amount of respect and responsibility that I see has changed so drastically over the past eighteen years,” Romoser said.
Looking back on her career, Diane can do nothing but smile, knowing that she has had an impact on her students.
The friendships that she’s made while teaching is something that she will continue to treasure.
“I will really miss all of the staff I work with because they are all such wonderful people to know and spend time with. It can truly be a “family” atmosphere,” Romoser said. “I will miss spending my days with students and seeing those “light bulb” moments. There’s nothing better.”
