The end of the school year will bring about many changes for students and faculty. Students look forward to the summer for fun and relaxation, as do teachers. The end of this school year marks the end of a 32 year teaching career for  Mrs. Neda Finney.

Mrs. Finney has taught college level as well as high school. She says she anticipates traveling and working in her garden. She assures that she will miss the students, faculty, and administration of Tunstall High School.

As to her most memorable situation in her teaching career, she reflects as, “One day at Powhatan High school, not one student reported to physics class. I was sitting in the classroom alone, well after the tardy bell. After about ten minutes, I went looking for my class. I  met them coming down the hall carrying a big birthday cake for me.”

Finney shares her most humorous teaching experience as, “Several years ago (at Tunstall) I told my classes that they would be visited by a person that we were considering for a position as a substitute chemistry teacher. I told them they were to give me a written evaluation of this ‘teacher’s’ performance with detailed information about what this teacher did correctly and what this teacher did not do correctly. I then went to tell the ‘teacher’ to report to the classroom. In reality, I went to my office, changed clothes , put on a wig, mini skirt and very large flip flops. I then went back into the classroom for about 10 minutes and proceeded to make a big display of violating all kinds lab safety rules. The demonstration table at the front of the room was a disaster area. In talking to the students later, some of them told me they had no idea who this person was, but she was definitely crazy and should not be invited back. The written evaluation provided by the students was their lab safety test.

In giving advice to beginning teachers, Mrs. Finney cautions the first year is always the hardest. She also encourages them to make friends with a couple of experienced teachers and the school secretary and to visit them often.

She discloses the usage of the computer as the most profound change in education during her teaching career. When she began teaching , the personal computer did not exist. “Teachers used a calculator to compute grades, a typewriter, a ditto machine, a filmstrip projector and a reel-to-reel movie projector. Today, we do almost everything on the computer.”

Mrs. Finney also notes that “SOLs did not exist when I started teaching. However, I do not consider this a change in education because I grew up taking similar exams in New York State (the NYS Regents Exams). My first teaching was in New York, so I had to prepare my students for these exams.

The students and faculty at Tunstall high School are going to miss Mrs. Finney’s dedication and humorous learning antics that she has been a recipient of these past 12 years.