At the end of the 2024-2025 spring semester, Ms. Patricia Sharpe will retire from Haven.

Sharpe has taught special education at Haven for the last nine years, along with managing her students’ Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).

Sophomore Carter Sturgis often greets Sharpe in the hallways, and believes that her biggest strength is her kindness in helping students.

“It was this essay that we had to write for ‘Third And Indiana’, and I was just staying after with her, having her help me get it done. It was such a joy to work with her,” Sturgis said.

According to Sharpe, her day-to-day duties include troubleshooting between phone calls, trips to the office, running IEP meetings, pushing into classes, and writing documents.

“My students have been my biggest teachers. And I think that humility is really important for teachers. It’s about listening, and I believe that’s how a lot of the staff does it here,” Sharpe said.

Another lesson Sturgis learned from Sharpe is the ability to read between the lines, in literature and in the larger world.

“She taught me how to look further into a text. Instead of picking out the first thing I see, she taught me to read, dig into it, do a little bit of a deeper dive into the text,” Sturgis said.

Sharpe entered the workforce almost immediately after high school. She worked in a law firm, wrote and taught a Legal Assistance Program for adults on welfare, and more. Sharpe then took an interest in education and got her master’s degree at Neumann University.

“One of my vision boards that I did 20 years ago, I had across the top: I want to work for Wallingford Swarthmore School District. And then it was a few years later that it came true,” Sharpe said.

After teaching at a charter school for six years, she started substitute teaching at the middle school, and then transitioned to her current position at Haven.

“It has been challenging, especially with COVID and the effects of it on students, and now with the enormous challenges our present world has created for these upcoming adults,” Sharpe said.

Sharpe compares this period of change to eighth graders crossing the bridge.

“I don’t feel as sad as I was feeling a couple weeks ago, because I think I’m finally getting it through my head that this is not the end,” Sharpe said.

In retirement, Sharpe hopes to support a local community theater, where she and her sister have recently been involved in a Chrstimas production. Theater has been a major part of Sharpe’s life since high school, allowing her to grow by making friends, learning new things, and realizing her limitations. 

Eleanor Newton, a seventh grader at SHMS, acted in the Christmas production with Sharpe.

“She taught me about self-correction and not giving up. A lot of times we would do something wrong, and then we would work together to fix it, and own what we did wrong, and then make it better,” Newton said.

According to Newton, Sharpe helped the children in the production learn from their mistakes in an understanding and patient way.

“After the end of the last show, when we did the bow together, she looked at me like, ‘good job.’ It was really nice,” Newton said. “She’s just an overall nice person. She was nice to everyone. She’s easy to talk to and have a conversation with,”

Both Sturgis and Newton hope that retirement will be a reward for Sharpe’s hard work and contributions.

“I hope all goes well and she enjoys life,” Sturgis said.

Sharpe plans to substitute in the district a few days a week and volunteer in her grandson’s kindergarten.

“There’s a huge menu of fun and interesting things to do in retirement, and I plan to experience as many as I can,” Sharpe said.

Sharpe’s parting advice to students is to avoid ignoring problems in the world or in your own life, but instead just do the next right thing. She believes she has been changed by the challenges of teaching.

“Looking back, I see how everything I’ve taught my students were the many lessons I learned in my own journey. I know I have learned more from my students than I have taught them,” Sharpe said.

At the end of the day, Sharpe highlights the value of teachers by likening them to gardeners.

“You’re feeding minds. You’re planting. It’s like going over to a garden center, and you get this nice little plant, and it’s only a little tiny thing there. And you’re in charge—not total charge—but you’re part of it. You’re part of the story of making sure that it’s watered properly or cared for properly, and that takes a watchful eye,” she said.