![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/img-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Steven Baker and Nick Mannion<\/span><\/p>\n Staff Writers<\/span><\/p>\n After 26 years of teaching at Jamesville-DeWitt High School, science teacher Michael Keefe has decided to retire. Though he\u2019ll be gone he will not be forgotten, as many students and teachers will always remember his wit, humor, and passion for teaching. \u201cHe is such a great guy, I\u2019m definitely going to miss him,\u201d said fellow science teacher Charlie May who has worked with Mr. Keefe for 25 years. <\/span><\/p>\n After spending a year each at Central Square and Corcoran, Mr. Keefe came to J-DHS in 1990, and says it’s now \u201cmy turn\u201d to retire. Mr. Keefe says he wants to spend more time with his family, before he gets too old. Mr. Keefe also says he wants to be more of a yard-working man after he retires, so he looks forward to raking leaves, and doing a lot of planting. After Mr. Keefe retires he plans on an extended stay in Australia with his wife until August. Then, he plans on going to Virginia for a wedding, but this is also where he will spend the rest of his days. <\/span><\/p>\n Mr. Keefe says that his favorite part of teaching is \u201cgoofing off with students,\u201d and this style has made a mark on many students at J-DHS. \u201cI honestly don’t know what I’m going to do without Mr. Keefe,\u201d said sophomore Anthony Ciccone. \u201cHe is one of the best teachers I\u2019ve had this year,\u201d said senior Nia Nelson. Mr. Keefe teaches Earth Science for freshman, and Chemistry for juniors. \u201cIt kinda sucks that he\u2019s retiring, he has helped so many kids,\u201d said junior Vincenzo Digristina.<\/span><\/p>\n Besides the students, Mr. Keefe has impacted many of his colleagues and fellow teachers. Two of Mr. Keefe\u2019s closest colleagues have been Mr. May, and science teacher Rich Adler. All three teachers have been working together in the science department for 25 years. \u201cIt’s always a blast working with these guys,\u201d said Mr. Keefe. Mr. Adler says there\u2019s not another person at J-DHS who can relate to, and teach students as well as Mr. Keefe does. Mr. May and Mr. Adler both realize that J-DHS will be a lot different next year without Mr. Keefe. \u201dIt won\u2019t be as fun next year,\u201d said Mr. May. <\/span><\/p>\n Initially, Mr. Keefe did not plan on going into teaching, when he attended SUNY ESF, majoring in chemistry, land management, and biology. \u201cI have always been a huge science geek, it has always been my dream to do something in science,\u201d said Mr. Keefe. Before teaching, he owned an auto parts store for seven years, which he then sold. A couple months later he was at a party, and someone said to him \u201cevery time we are at a party you are always playing with the kids. Why don\u2019t you just study to become a teacher.\u201d So he did. Principal Paul Gasparini also sees his connection to the students. \u201cHe\u2019s in this job for the right reasons, and we will miss his passion for the kids and his passion for the classroom.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Along with the students, and teachers, J-DHS itself has impacted Mr. Keefe in a great way. Though after the last day of the school year he will probably never step foot in, or even see J-DHS again, \u201cthis high school will always be in my memory,\u201d said Mr. Keefe. \u201cI hate that I’m never going to see one of my favorite teachers again,\u201d said sophomore Lexie Gambacorto. Mr. Keefe says that J-DHS has made him who he is today, and that there’s no other school he would want to go to.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Steven Baker and Nick Mannion Staff Writers After 26 years of teaching at Jamesville-DeWitt High School, science teacher Michael Keefe has decided to retire. Though he\u2019ll be gone he will not be forgotten, as many students and teachers will always remember his wit, humor, and passion for teaching. \u201cHe is such a great guy, I\u2019m […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3456"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3456\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdrampage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}