Mr. Schwing Sums Up Retirement

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Mr. Schwing with his students Nicolle Nacey ’08 and Caitlin Vogelsang ’08.

 

Mr. Charles Schwing, who retired in 2013 after teaching mathematics at St. Francis for 36 years, urges Troubadours to follow a life path on which they can look back with satisfaction and joy, and with no regrets.

What led you to teaching at St. Francis?

I went into teaching immediately after graduating from college in 1969. I taught math in a public school in southeastern Massachusetts. While there, the school moved to a new building which had, for the time, a very capable computer system. I got hooked on programming the computer and wrote attendance and grade reporting software so the school could perform these services in-house.

When we moved to Sacramento in 1977, I got a computer programming job. I did not find it very rewarding, so I started looking for a teaching position. In January 1979 I went to SF to drop off a résumé and it turned out that one of their math teachers had just resigned to take a position in Grass Valley. I was hired on the spot and was happily ensconced at SF until retirement a couple years ago.

Which classes did you teach during your tenure at St. Francis?

When I started at SF, I taught everything from Algebra 1 through Senior Math (now called Precalculus). For a couple years Dennis Fatheree and I team-taught Physics – I did the lectures and he did the lab sessions. During that time, SF also acquired some Apple II computers. Using them, I taught a semester course in BASIC programming. In addition, I wrote some software that allowed SF to produce its own report cards instead of contracting the service out to one of the public schools.

Eventually, the school got large enough that it was no longer feasible for me to both teach and handle the administrative duties simultaneously. The choice was easy. I stayed in the classroom and others took over the non-teaching responsibilities, a choice I’ve never regretted.

During my final years, I taught mostly Honors Precalculus and AP Calculus along with an occasional section of Algebra 2.

How has St. Francis changed over the years?

By some metrics, SF has changed a lot. There is the impossible to miss growth in the physical plant. Enrollment was around 500 students when I started with some classrooms unused during multiple periods of the day. Now there are well over 1000 students and few, if any, idle rooms. When I started, only about 80% of the graduates went to college, now it is virtually 100%. The number of Honors and  AP classes has grown immensely. For example, when I started there was but one section of precalculus, then called Senior Math, and no honors sections for any of the math classes. By the time I retired, there were multiple sections of precalculus and calculus, offered at different levels of rigor so that each student could find a course appropriate to her needs.

SF also had classes like home economics and sewing as well as career oriented courses that taught skills such as shorthand, typing, and operating common business machines.

The Fine Arts program has grown immensely in the last 35 years. Choir is no longer an after school activity offered on a hit and miss basis. Plays and musicals get performed in a beautiful on-campus facility. Visual arts have their own dedicated rooms instead of all having to make do in one room (121, for those who remember the old designations).

But SF remained very much the same, as well. Commitment to excellence, school spirit, the sense of sisterhood, and the caring community that supported its members when they needed it most are all aspects of campus life that seem unchanged. While some traditions have faded into history (remember decorating homeroom windows and powder puff football?), others have arisen to take their place. These  intangible qualities are what kept me coming back year after year.

What were some of your favorite traditions at SF?

Perhaps my favorite was the talent show before Christmas. I never tired of seeing displayed the marvelous gifts given to so many of our students and being thankful for their generosity in sharing those gifts with all the rest of us. I always marveled at the energy and enthusiasm pervading the campus during Spirit Week.

How did you motivate your students?

I never saw myself as motivating my students. I believe motivation must come from within. I tried to create an environment where a student’s efforts would be rewarded with a sense of achievement. When a student said something like “I never knew that I was so good at math.” I knew I’d succeeded.

What’s your favorite quote?

It’s difficult to pick only one, but I’ve always liked the following quote. It was presented to me many years ago by a student. Sad to say, I no longer remember who she was but I still have the gift and treasure it. It was done in lovely calligraphic script (remember when Miss Doglietto and Mrs. Groshosky taught that useful skill?) and read:
“It’s a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.”     –W. Somerset Maugham

How do you define success? Overall, how did you determine your student’s success in the classroom?

One’s success is ultimately measured by that individual. An outcome considered successful to the observer may be experienced as failure to the one experiencing it, and vice-versa. I tried to measure the success of my students by how close they came to achieving their goals. The grade I assigned was not a measure of that success, nor could it be because I often had no idea of exactly what a student expected to get from my class. Sometimes a C student could be the most successful if, for example, her goal was to pass the AP exam with a score good enough to never have to take another math class and she attained that score.

What advice do you have for the seniors of the Class of 2016 upon their graduation?

I would urge them to find things to do with their lives that let them look back with satisfaction and joy with no regrets. More importantly, find someone with whom she can share those experiences and who will support her in her endeavors. I was fortunate enough to do both.

How are you enjoying retirement and what do you like to do in your free time?

Retirement has been very pleasant. We moved to Napa to be closer to the ranch, a property familiar to those of my AP Calc students who made the springtime trek there. We try to spend as much time there as we can on tasks such as maintaining trails and controlling non-native, invasive plants.

Write a message to Mr. Schwing or tell us your favorite story. Please leave your name and graduation year.

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