You would think that the word “retirement” to teachers is like music to their ears, but not for junior English teacher Ms. Catalina Perez who was scheduled to retire at the end of the school year.

“My students’ success and love for me keeps me motivated to come back for more,” says Ms. Perez, who felt that she wasn’t quite ready to retire in June as originally planned and felt honored when principal Mr. Valdes invited her to stay for another year.

Ms. Perez once roamed the halls of Miami Senior High as a student until she graduated in 1975, and then attended UM. “My experience in high school and college was awesome,” she says. “ I excelled in both and also had lots of friends.”

Although she originally decided to go to Duke University, Ms. Perez decided to attend UM because she received a scholarship there and because her parents didn’t want her to go away since she was their only child. She also did not want to leave her husband behind. She decided to major in English because she loves to read and discover new authors and new ideas when analyzing literature.

Ms. Perez, who always wanted to teach ever since her early childhood, loves to feel the change when her students learn and reach their goals. At one point, however, her dream job was to become a lawyer.

She decided to teach at Miami High because, “Once a Stingaree, always a Stingaree!” She first here at MSH but was then transferred to Shenandoah Middle School in 1979 due to the cuts where they transferred about 12 teachers including her because she was the rookie.

Before she became an English teacher at Miami High, she worked at the library at UM and at a phone office for AT&T where she translated for the Yellow Pages.

Her first years as a teacher at Miami High were fabulous. She remembers teaching classes filled with creative projects and ways of learning. “There wasn’t all this testing like there is now!” she said.

For a teacher who has been teaching for 37 years now, what is her method for preparing students for huge exams such as the EOC, ACT, and SAT? “I like to use easy strategies to help them and to make sure they leave my class with all skills that are required to pass the tests,” says Ms. Perez.

Ms. Perez’s favorite books are thrillers and mysteries, but with her 11^th grade English classes, she likes to teach some of the classics such as The Great Gatsby, which her class is currently reading, and The Catcher in the Rye.

Known for her quirky and colorful style, Ms. Perez loves looking at fashion magazines and trying out new ideas and buys her clothing from different stores because she loves variety.

Since next year is Ms. Perez’s last year of teaching, she sees herself traveling with her husband, spending lots of time with her children and grandchildren, going to the movies on the weekends, and going on vacations with her family.

One thing Ms. Perez won’t be missing after retiring is all the paper work and the extra planning, but she will miss her students whom she describes as “awesome, likeable, fantastic, and exceptional” and who make her job so much fun.