CCHS teachers retiring at the end of the 2025-26 school year reflect on their careers and the impact they’ve had on students.
Clarke Central High School Career Technical and Agricultural Education department teacher Chris Sugiuchi poses for a headshot in Room 114 on April 2. Photo by Maypop Wren
Position: Career Technical and Agricultural Education department teacher
First year of teaching at CCHS: 2023
What was your experience like when you first started teaching?
I originally wanted to teach high school, (but) I just (so) happened to get a job teaching (at Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School) in 1997. I’d say that it was pretty terrifying the first few days, because the lessons that I had planned to take 50 minutes ended up taking 20 minutes, and then I was like, “Oh, what do we do now with all this extra time?” So there’s a big adjustment period there. After teaching at BHL for five years, my wife and I were expecting our kid, Harvey Sugiuchi. (Since) I didn’t know anything about these (younger students), I (went to) teach (at Johnnie Lay Burks Elementary School) in 2001 and ended up loving it.
What are some challenges that have shaped you as a teacher?
Having enough time to get everything done as a teacher (is challenging). There’s a lot of demands besides teaching and that (constrains) time to plan lessons. With technology changing so much, a lesson that you designed (in the past), (in) the next year, the website might no longer (work), or the company got bought, and (we) don’t have access anymore, or that particular skill students were trying to develop is not as relevant anymore.
What do you value most as an educator?
Trying to keep the curriculum or our learning objective as relevant as possible to real life, or just (helping students understand) “How does this affect me as a person?” No matter where they are headed after school, if I could make the lessons do that, or make (them) interesting for students so they’re not dreading learning about something, that’s what makes (teaching) very exciting.
What is something you will never forget from teaching?
One of the most exciting things we did was a project called Chasing Space, and (it happened) in 2013 when I was a science and math teacher at (JLB). We launched a weather balloon (and) attached cameras and tracking equipment to it, and it reached the edge of the stratosphere (at) 100,000 feet, and we actually got camera footage and recovered it. It was really exciting to have my students help me build this (weather balloon) and talk about all the different things (like the) information and data we were hoping to gather and then actually be able to get this (weather balloon) back that had traveled to the edge of space essentially, and then recover all the information and use that as a learning tool.
What’s been rewarding for you as an educator?
(I’m) really proud of all of (my students). Some of them went to college. Some went straight to work. (For example,) there was a water leak on the street in my neighborhood, (and) I called the after hours number, and given the details of where the leak was, the guy goes, “Is this Mr. Sugi who taught at (BHL)?” (He) was one of my students that was working the after hours, and I was like “Man, that’s really cool.” (Additionally,) I’ve had about 45 students that I taught in elementary school, some as young as pre-K all the way through fifth grade, take my class again when I came over here to Clarke Central (High School) in 2023. It’s a cool thing to see somebody from 4-year-old all the way up to 18 and their educational journey. Even though they’re taller and much more mature, their personalities are much the same from the time they were little kids, and it’s fun to see that creative spark and curiosity stay throughout their career.
Clarke Central High School science department teacher Claude Gonzalez poses for a headshot in Room 186 on April 2. Photo by Maypop Wren
Position: Science department teacher
First year of teaching at CCHS: 2013
What was your experience like when you first started teaching?
When I started teaching, there were no computers in classrooms. The only computer was on the principal’s desk, everything was done by paper. All lesson planning was done on paper. Attendance was done on paper. I’ve seen first the move towards teachers having computers, and then maybe one or two computers in a classroom, to where every kid has a computer, which we started very early here.
What are some challenges that have shaped you as a teacher?
Trying technology has been a big challenge, and I think research shows that the one-to-one student-to-computer ratio has a lot of benefits, but it also has problems, especially with literacy. Our kids don’t read, and they may say that they read on the computer, but they don’t. They skim, and instead of directing our kids to read, we’ve kind of thrown up our hands and said, “Well, we’ll put up with skimming.”
What do you value most as an educator?
There are (several) things that I feel pride in that I’ve been able to help our kids accomplish, and that’s basically (the realization) that learning can be interesting, fun, joyful (and) cool. One of the reasons I chose Zoology when (the CCHS science department) was looking for a class to act as a science elective is because kids think animals are cool. I bring that joy that they find in animals into the class to develop their curiosity.
What is something you will never forget from teaching?
Kids. CCHS has been a very good place to work. Administration here is wonderful, and they have made my job so much easier, but I’m gonna miss kids. They are the reason I show up. Every day, I wake up wanting to come to school, and the reason is (that) there is going to be something that makes my heart sing, (maybe) a kid who I’ve been busting my head against the wall to try getting to learn, all of a sudden, (makes) a connection (or) asks a good question, a curious question, and those are what I cherish.
What’s been rewarding for you as an educator?
One of the things I’ve enjoyed is Advisement, where you have the same kids for four years because you get to know the kids (and) their families really well. (You get) to see this kid who was a total knucklehead when they were freshmen, bouncing off the walls with energy, slowly growing over those four years, that’s great. I am not naive enough to say that I helped with that, but) I was part of the puzzle that enabled that kid to grow (and) that does bring my heart joy.
Clarke Central High School special education department teacher poses for a headshot in Room 208 on April 2. Photo by Maypop Wren
Position: Special education department teacher
First year of teaching at CCHS: 2002
What was your experience like when you first started teaching?
(In) my first year teaching, I got my first job at BHL. I was substituting (the first day), and then the next day, I was across the hall from the Special Education Team Leader Lynn Meredith. When it was (the) planning period, I just stuck my head in there, introduced myself to her, and told her that I had just graduated with a special education degree, and she marched me right down to the principal, so I got offered a job on the spot (on) my second day substituting.
What are some challenges that have shaped you as a teacher?
There have been a ton of challenges. I’ve had many students who (had) challenging behavior. I (had) giant boys who were super aggressive. A lot of mental health issues on top of disabilities, which makes it very difficult to unpack and clear the lines between teaching what they’re capable of and not pushing too far to frustration. I’ve had some family situations that have been very challenging, families that have gone through real hardships, students that have lost parents while I’ve been teaching them, and that’s always difficult, students that have lost their homes while I was teaching them. So, there have been lots and lots of challenges.
What do you value most as an educator?
Kids are first, and I would say that’s been my philosophy, too. Kids come first. Whatever all the other things are, and all the things that other people want me to do in this job, my main focus has always been my students.
What is something you will never forget from teaching?
I will definitely miss my (special education) team. My team is one of the best teams here at CCHS. We’re super close, and we work really closely together, and we work really well together. I’m definitely going to miss that. I would say that I’m going to miss the students, but I’ll actually still be seeing a lot of them through the CCSD Special Olympics and Love.Craft Athens. But there are some students that I definitely will miss that are younger that I won’t see for a little while still, but they’ll come back around. I’ll see them again later when they get closer to graduating.
What’s been rewarding for you as an educator?
I had two full circle moments where two students that were in my very first teaching are now Clarke County School District employees, so that’s a big deal. They’re not the only ones that have gone on to work in CCSD, but they were in my very first class, so they stand out to me. (Overall, it’s) just seeing my students go out into the world and become productive citizens.
