Longtime science teacher Christine Whitcome retiring

One institution in the Carson City schools will be retiring next week, after 42 years with the district.

Christine Whitcome, beloved Eagle Valley seventh-grade science teacher is retiring after this school year. Whitcome taught at Carson High School for 8 years and is the last teacher left who helped open Eagle Valley. She has been in the same classroom, room 130, for the entirety of her time at EVMS.

“I have taught children and grand children of former students and I thought I would be done before I hit the grandchildren,” Whitcome said with a laugh.

“I don’t know how it happened, I don’t know how 42 years have passed, but it is easy when you are busy and doing what you love.”

The Carson City native didn’t aspire to be a teacher — she stumbled onto the career path while she was attending University of Nevada, Reno. Whitcome was getting her degree in biology when a college adviser told her to take an early education class for an easy credit.

“I didn’t mean to go into teaching,” Whitcome said. “I was going to be a research scientist, working in a lab, but I took the education classes and I was hooked.”

Whitcome said her subpar junior high experience is what led her to working with seventh-graders.

“I wanted to make it so the kids love science in middle school,” Whitcome said. “Teaching seventh grade, when they are done, I don’t usually see where the students end up, but sometimes I will hear that so-and-so is a mining engineer or a geologist or a doctor (and I like to hear that).”

She has dedicated her entire life to teaching, not just in the schools, but also was a part of the National Education Association, Ormsby County Education Association, and sat on a variety of national education boards. In addition, Whitcome has also won several outstanding educator, distinguished leader and educator of the year awards from the Carson City School District as well as her national organizations.

One of Whitcome’s former students, now a colleague of hers, said Whitcome is a great asset and a great teacher.

“She is a constant, steady force,” said EVMS Health teacher Bonnie Preston. “Her presence in her classroom on the corner is as strong as the very pillars that hold up the school itself.”

Preston said even though Whitcome has been teaching for decades, she still seizes opportunities to continue to train and learn new strategies and techniques for teaching.

“You name any teaching strategy, methodology or fad, she has been through them all and is still standing,” Preston said. “Even this year, with decades of teaching experience, she still attended training for GATE teachers to better help their GATE students achieve more and be better challenged in the classroom. She is truly a life long learner and passes that knowledge onto her students.”

For Whitcome, that constant learning is what makes science and teaching exciting.

“There is always more to do, especially with science,” Whitcome said. “They have new standards and I feel like I could do so much more (in the classroom), but it is time to hand it over to the newer teachers to do it.”

Though she will be retiring, Whitcome said that won’t mean she will spend her time gardening. She plans traveling and teaching at Sierra Nevada College and doing consulting work for school districts.

“(Retiring) is sad in some ways and not in others,” Whitcome said. “I love teaching adults so that will be great.” Whitcome said she will miss seeing the moment her 7th graders finally understand a lesson.

“I will miss that ‘aha’ moment when they just get it and their little faces light right up,” Whitcome said. “I will miss teaching science because science is fun.”

The biggest change for Whitcome will be not spending so much time at the school like she normally does.

“When most of your time is spent grading papers or planning lessons, that is what will be weird because I am used to coming into school every weekend for the last 43 years,” Whitcome said.

But, Whitcome will enjoy getting to spend time travelling, especially her trip to Scotland she has planned at the end of the summer, drinking wine and working on publishing an e-book on erosion and geology.

“I keep having students who have said ‘you can’t retire,” Whitcome said. “But it is probably about time I got out of the 7th grade, don’t you think?”