CLIFTON PARK — Eric Treacy smiled and laughed as he recalled how he adapted to his former Shenendehowa Central School District teachers becoming his colleagues.
“It took me a lot of adjusting to go from Mr. and Mrs. to we’re on a first name basis,” Treacy said.
Treacy, a 5th grade teacher in the district, knew he wanted to go into education since he was inspired by his first grade teacher.
“Even at that point, I was like, I want to live here forever and work at Shen,” he said.
Over the past seven years he’s worked in the district, Treacy has had the chance to work alongside former teachers and other students who graduated from the district.
One of the teachers Treacy works alongside is Sara DiNallo, who was his English teacher when he was a student.
A 1994 graduate of the district herself, DiNallo decided to become a teacher following a decision to leave a career in political science. Having always loved her English teachers and classes at Shen, she went on to get her master's degree.
She eventually took over her seventh grade English teacher position. Now, she said, she looks around her classroom and sees many students who could one day become teachers themselves.
Julia Ryan is another former student among the faculty. She just began as a kindergarten teacher in the fall.
Ryan said it really hit her how many of her teachers she would now be working with during her first Superintendent’s conference, when she could point out all the instructors she previously had for class. The 2018 graduate hadn’t always wanted to be a teacher, in fact, it was her sister who was always interested in the field.
“I wanted to do something in the science field, but growing up, I had always worked at day cares, I had worked at basketball camps and I was just always around children,” she said. “So, when it came down to deciding what college I wanted to go to, and what career I wanted to pursue, I knew that it was just the natural thing that I had always gravitated toward, so I had decided to go into education in college.”
Another Shenendehowa alum and teacher who made a quick return was math teacher Trish Spain.
She said some of her colleagues have joked she’s never left the school.
Only six years separate the time when Spain graduated from the district — class of 1989 — to when she started working there. It was actually a former Shen teacher, then working at Union College, who suggested she try teaching.
She started in the district in 1995, teaching in the building where she went to elementary school.
“It’s great, it’s exciting, it’s familiar, for sure,” she said.
Spain said she didn’t actually start out working for the Shen school district, due to there being a surplus of teachers seeking jobs. However, when a position became available, she jumped at the opportunity. Decades later, she’s still there, and even stopping by her childhood home to eat lunch with her parents.
“I’m a product of Shen,” she said.
DiNallo had a similar situation.
“Getting jobs in 2002 was tough. Everyone was looking for jobs, so I actually accepted a position at another district, and then I got an offer at Shen,” she said. “I clearly wanted to come back here.”
DiNallo and Spain said they’re proud to see their students come back to teach.
They said the atmosphere at Shen and the comradery among colleagues is a motivational force to keep teaching.
Neither Treacy nor Ryan can imagine what it would be like not being with their students or colleagues at Shen.
“They are really here for me, and that’s been so remarkable,” Ryan said.
But they all agree that, at the end of the day, it's the students that make being a teacher — particularly in the Shen district — so enjoyable.
“The little notes that we get, the thank yous, and when we see them out in the community and they remember you, and they say, ‘Oh my god, you were my favorite,’ that’s what keeps me going. I still love my job and as long as I love my job I’ll still teach,” Spain said.
All the teachers said they hope to embolden students that want to be future teachers.
“It’s so much more than teaching. It’s so much more than education,” DiNallo said. “It’s building connections. It’s learning about who they are. It’s helping them through their struggles in life.”