By Mariella Bishop and Angelina Ricker
As the school year comes to an end, the seniors are off to college and to a new start in their lives. In addition to the leaving seniors, some teachers are retiring or leaving Lovett. We were able to catch up with Michele Davis, Jeffrey Turner, and Wesley Adams. As they move onto the next steps of their life,
Michele Davis
Mrs. Davis has been working at Lovett for 5 years and was recently recognized for that at the All-School Closing Chapel on May 1st. In total, she has been teaching for 27 years. She’s mostly been teaching high schoolers, though a third of her career was dedicated to teaching middle school. Throughout her teaching journey, Mrs. Davis has taught English and History.
Mrs. Davis’s spark to teach began in her junior year of high school, when she worked at a summer camp for young children. “I just realized it was so fun to be around just the silly, vibrant energy,” she said. Additionally, Mrs. Davis’s majors in English and Political Science and her love for writing and reading ultimately led her to become a teacher.
After leaving, Mrs. Davis plans to be a writing consultant for Ripples Media LLC, the publishing company of her book, Grieve Like a Mother, Survive Like a Warrior. She also plans to continue working with Warrior Moms, a community of women who work together to help each other and other mothers who are victims of child loss. She’ll be producing a “ Warrior Mom podcast,” and leading “a bunch of retreats,” she says. Traveling and having fun are also a part of her plans.
But what she looks forward to the most is “just kind of slowing down life.” Mrs. Davis explained that for the past 12 years, she has been extremely busy with work, family, and other responsibilities. She’s excited to “have time to go on a walk and to play tennis and all these things that I absolutely love to do that I have not done in a really long time,” she said.
I (Angelina) had Mrs. Davis for my English class this year. To me, she is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. She always understands her students, whether that’s their stress or their confusion. There is not one time in class when I felt a negative presence from her. She has been nothing but kind, sweet, gentle, and every other positive adjective I can think of. I am deeply saddened to see her leave Lovett, but I wish her the best of luck with the rest of her journey.
“I think taking risks and that failure is part of teaching, and that’s okay; that kids value when you’re vulnerable, that’s both with making mistakes, that’s with just errors on assignments or whatever it is. If you’re just honest and real, the kids really respond to that,” Mrs. Davis said.
Wesley Adams
After three years of teaching at Lovett, math teacher and wrestling coach Mr. Adams is preparing to leave the school and continue his coaching career elsewhere. Mr. Adams has been coaching wrestling for about 10 years; his passion for the sport has been a big part of his role at Lovett. Along with teaching high school math, he also spent a lot of time helping student athletes and building strong relationships both in and out of the classroom. A lot of students know him not just as a teacher, but as someone they can talk to and learn from outside of class, too.
I (Mariella Bishop) not only learned math from Mr. Adams in middle school for pre-algebra, but also had the honor of helping him during wrestling season by becoming a Mat Lion. To me, he is not only a great teacher but a caring coach who loves his job deeply. Seeing him leave Lovett is sad, but in the end, I’m glad he gets to experience new schools and, hopefully, continue coaching for longer.
When asked why he became a teacher, Mr. Adams explained his motivation has always been about helping others. He wanted to help students grow, not just in school but overall. “I became a teacher to help people, mentor people to help students grow, and then Lovett was really attractive,” he said. “It’s a really good school, it’s a really good area. I had a connection with some coaches that I talked to, and just seemed like you’d be a good fit.”
He said Lovett stood out to him as a place where he could help others. He saw it as a really good school in a good area, and he already had some connections with coaches here, which made it feel like a place where he could fit in. From the start, it felt like a good fit for him.
As he moves on, Mr. Adams is not done with teaching and coaching. He will be heading to Pope High School, where he hopes to focus more on wrestling full-time.
“I’m heading to Pope High School to continue as a wrestling coach. I’m hoping to have a good transition to that job and hopefully have some success on the coaching front,” he said.
Even though he is excited about his next step, leaving Lovett won’t be easy. According to Mr. Adams, what he will miss most is the people. He’s already built strong connections with lots of different people at Lovett. “I have really good colleagues between teachers and coaches,” he said. “I’ve got some pretty good relationships with students as well.”
For new teachers coming into Lovett, Mr. Adams offered some advice: “Get involved with something outside of teaching, whether it’s coaching or a sport or a club or whatever it may be.” He also shared that Lovett is a really supportive community with awesome students.
Looking ahead Mr Adams plans to keep coaching wrestling for as long as he can. “I hope to coach until I physically can’t anymore,” he said, showing his dedication and care for the sport.
Even though Mr. Adams is leaving Lovett, his impact will be remembered. We wish him the best as he starts his next chapter at Pope High School.
Jeff Turner
Jeff Turner has been working at Lovett for 7 years as an AP US History/American Studies teacher and is also the upper school history department chair. His wife, Fran Turner, also works at Lovett as the Director of Civic and Global Engagement.
Mr. Turner has always loved teaching history and getting to connect with his students. From a young age, when learning about history in class and studying the subject, he knew that he wanted to pursue a career in history. “I really loved the teaching part as much as I loved the history part, or maybe even more,” he shared.
Lovett definitely stood out to him as a great place to teach. “Lovett’s American Studies program has been around a long time. And I was actually … I did professional development here before I even came to Lovett. Lovett used to run an American Studies Institute. So for me, that was very attractive. They had a really good program, and I wanted to be a part of it,” he told us.
Leaving Lovett is another big step in his life. Like Mr. Adams, something he will definitely miss about Lovett is the relationships he has built over time.
“I’ve loved the students and I’ve really enjoyed the relationships that I’ve built with my colleagues, and I’ve really loved working at the same place that Ms. Turner worked,” he said. “So that’s always been fun coming in and together and talking about our day. We still get to do that. We just won’t talk about Lovett.” Even while interviewing Mr. Turner, he and Mrs. Turner were sitting in the same office!
Lovett is an amazing place that opened up many new opportunities for Mr. Turner. “I’ve loved the students, and I’ve really enjoyed the relationships that I’ve built with my colleagues, and I’ve really loved working at the same place that Ms. Turner worked,” he said.
Mr. Turner looks forward to many things in retirement, such as traveling, spending more time with his kids, volunteering, and “slowing down a bit” (which seems to be a common theme!). He especially looks forward to “just doing things that I haven’t been able to do.”
To new teachers and to his past self, Mr. Turner gave some good advice: “Don’t be so anxious about all the details, just sort of enjoy it. Enjoy being who you are and the opportunities you have.”
