Sadly, this past March, Salida High School said goodbye to English teacher and drama choreographer Britt Searles. Searles started teaching at SHS in fall of 2016, and, before that, she was teaching at a state wildlife area, where she taught many different subjects related to wildlife. 

At SHS, she has taught many different classes, with the vast majority of them relating to English. She taught English Four, English Three, English Two, English Two Advanced, and English One. This past semester, she was also supposed to teach AP Language and Composition, but did not end up finishing the semester. Last spring, she also became the choreographer for the SHS Drama Department, and, since then, she has collaborated on three different productions: The Pajama Game, Bedtime Stories (As Told by Our Dad (Who Messed Them Up)), and Anything Goes. Despite not teaching anymore, she hopes to still be involved with Drama. She really enjoyed teaching juniors because they are at such a critical point in highschool– they are on the precipice of huge changes. While she’s loved all of the classes she’s taught in different ways, English Two Advanced has been her favorite. 

“If forced to choose, I think I had the most fun teaching English Two Advanced. I love the content and how it made sophomores start to shift from thinking literally to thinking in a more abstract manner,” Searles said. 

Unfortunately, in the Spring of last year Searles found out she had stage three breast cancer. After that, she obviously had to take a break to focus on her health. After completing chemo, surgery, and radiation, she found out that the radiation “cooked” one of her lungs and caused her to develop pneumonitis. Because of this, she started to miss a ton of school to go to doctor appointments, and, after she was turned down for long term leave, it was decided that it would be better if she left the school. Since leaving, she has been focusing on getting healthy and recuperating after all of these medical issues. She has been doing a lot of skiing, yoga, sleeping, reading, and taking care of her new puppy. 

“People think that once the cancer is gone, everything is fine, but the body needs time to repair after such an intense battle,” she said. 

Some of her favorite memories were the Advanced English Two Shakespearean insult contest and going to Denver to see MacBeth at Denver Center for Performing Arts with her Ms. Demoss, Ms. Ledwith, and all of their classes. While there are some aspects she won’t miss–like telling students to put their phones away– she will miss all the connections she made with her students and coworkers. 

Searles said “I’ll miss interacting with students and seeing them make connections to literature, and watching them grow from awkward ninth graders into good humans. I’ll miss the unexpected hilarious things students say that make me laugh so hard I cry. I’ll miss watching a student become amazed by language. I’ll miss talking books with students (you know who you are!). I’ll miss working hard to create a safe environment for growth, and I’ll miss being part of the community of SHS.”