For 15 years, journalism teacher Nancy Freeman has advised the CHS Globe and this year will be her final year at CHS.

“I didn’t start teaching until I was 38 years old,” Freeman said. “I was kind of a late bloomer. I had six children before I started teaching. I had originally started college at St. Louis University right after high school where I had a full scholarship, but my mother was very ill so I quit school after a year to stay home and take care of my mom. I didn’t go back to college until our youngest child was two, so I finished college the same year our oldest son graduated high school.”

Throughout her career, Freeman has taught multiple subjects.

“I’ve taught lots of English classes from freshman through senior English classes,” Freeman said. “I’ve taught creative writing, done a literary magazine and I did the yearbook a couple years when I taught at Fort Zumwalt North.”

The one subject she has always taught every year is newspaper.

“I’ve taught newspaper every single year or something involving it and I’ve loved it so much because you get to talk about everything that happens in the whole world with your kids,” Freeman said.

She has taught this every year because she enjoys how students can write for an actual audience in the community.

“I think that’s something that really empowers students and teaches them to be good writers because people are really reading what they say,” Freeman said. “Usually when you’re writing a paper for school, it’s for your English teacher or for your science teacher. However, when you write for the Globe you’re writing for a real audience, and your words have impact and power.”

Loving her job so much makes it slightly bittersweet to leave the CHS Globe she has raised and supported for 15 years.

“It’s always hard to leave,” Freeman said. “It’s kind of like having a baby and raising it up till they’re old enough to go to college and then giving them over to somebody else to take care of. It kind of feels a little bit like that because you love that child, that program that you’ve grown, and it’s kind of hard to push it out the door and make sure that somebody’s going to support it. Somebody else is going to have to support it after you’re gone, but that’s part of the process. I know that I can’t stay here forever, and I do trust that the students will do what’s right and that the new adviser will help them to do what’s right.”

Staff members of the Globe also find it sad that Freeman is leaving the Globe.

“In all of my years on staff for the Globe, Mrs. Freeman has been has been nothing short of amazing,” Co-Editor in Chief Dawn Androphy said. “She’s a wonderful teacher and adviser. She has a true understanding of journalism and school publications and I’ve learned so much from her.”

Co-Editor in Chief Noah Eby also sees Freeman’s leave as a bittersweet goodbye.

“We’ve loved having her as our adviser and she’s done an amazing job,” Eby said. “We know she has left a lasting impact on us as students and on CHS as a whole.”

Freeman has confidence in next year’s adviser Erin Castellano.

“She’s new and this will be her first real experience of actually teaching a journalism class but she has really great training and is very talented so I think she’s going to do a wonderful job,” Freeman said. “She’s very different than I am in some ways. She’s probably a little more organized than I am which is probably a good thing.”

One other thing Freeman has confidence in is Castellano’s technology skills.

“She’s very into technology,” Freeman said. “I am too for somebody my age but she’s much younger so it’s more of a second nature to her, so she already has some good ideas about the website.”

Androphy is also excited about Castellano coming next year.

“I think that losing Mrs. Freeman will be difficult for next year’s Globe staff, but I’m also confident that Ms. Castellano will be a wonderful advisor,” Androphy said. “All of the editors who have spoken with her, including myself, were very impressed by her knowledge and commitment to journalism and education.”

Freeman also has high hopes for next year’s Globe and Castellano.

“What I really hope is that the new newspaper teacher will keep up the high quality and the ethics that the Globe has long been known for,” Freeman said. “I also think that the standards of good journalism are what are really important and also the relationship between the students. One of the things that I’ve always liked best about teaching journalism is the relationship that develops with students. When you get to work with them for three or four years, you really get to know them and you get to see them grow up and mature as they go through their high school years. They not only learn so much about journalism, teamwork and meeting deadlines but also about how to treat one another as they work on projects together and I would like to see that continue as well, that idea of camaraderie.”

After the year is over, Freeman plans to move to Jacksonville, Florida.

“I’m excited about retiring and we’re moving to Jacksonville for a couple of years. I’m excited about living in Florida, being on the beach and having some personal time which I haven’t had a lot of in my life,” Freeman said. “But it’s also hard to leave a program that I love and I feel like I’ve invested a lot of time and energy into building. It’s hard to leave students that I care about so it’s both exciting and a little sad.”

Eby believes that Freeman’s dedication to the Globe has made her deserve her retirement in Florida.

“She’s definitely worked hard and earned a nice retirement on the beach in Florida,” Eby said.