For 28 years, German teacher Susan West has made a positive difference in many students’, teachers’ and parents’ lives. During her tenure, she has contributed her intelligence, kindness and positive energy to the AHS family. After her long legacy as a Colt, West is retiring to write a new chapter of her life in Florida. Before she goes, West looks back on her time among the Green and White.

“I started working at Lamar in the fall of 1985 and I taught there two years before I came to Arlington High School,” West said. “Arlington High had an opening for a German teacher and they also had an opening for a drill team instructor, everything I wanted in my career.”

West’s experience at AHS has been an incredibly rewarding one.

“The kids here are amazing, I learned from them every year, just as much as I hope they learned from me,” she said.

Teaching has been an eye-opening and fulfilling experience, and West feels that what teachers do for students is incredibly important and always will be.

“I think people don’t understand that teachers do what they do because of their love for the kids, in hopes that they can bring something new into the lives of the kids, and it can be rewarding for them, just as having the kids in the class are a reward to us,” she said.

West’s last weeks at AHS are tinged with sadness but she will never forget her experiences.

“It is a huge bittersweet moment for me,” she said. “As my time draws near, I find myself tearing up very easily as I think about how I’m leaving, and how much I’ll miss it; how much I’ll miss my colleagues, the friends I’ve made, the students I’ve grown to love, past and present, so it’ll be very difficult, but I know this is right for me.