After 33 years, South theatre and speech teacher Catharine Rademacher is retiring this spring. Rademacher has been teaching at BHSS since August 1992, and has been around to witness many changes in the school. One of the biggest differences she recalls since starting her career at South is “the shift in teaching” through technology. “We used to write out our lesson plans and books and we used to do our grades in a grade book,” she said, remembering back to a time with no computers, phones, or similar technology.
When asked what she has learned throughout her career at BHSS, Rademacher said that “she started teaching when she was 22 years old, and she has learned everything; she’s been through all of her life experiences: she got married, she had a child, she got divorced, and now she’s retiring, so it’s like a full cycle of her life.” Rademacher also added, “I’ve learned that students are resilient and they’re amazing.”
Rademacher reflected on Bloomington South as a school and its attributes. “South is a very special place, the people here are just like family,” Rademacher said. Having spent 33 years of her life in the school environment, she reminisced about her favorite parts about teaching, including connecting with students, hearing kids’ points of view, and learning the young “lingo.”
Being both a theatre teacher and speech teacher, on top of being theatre director for Theatre South, she has taught many classes and directed many productions. She enjoys her speech classes the most saying that “we get to hear so many different ideas from people and every student kind of evolves.” After reflecting on her huge history in Theatre South, she spoke about some of her favorite shows that she has directed. Some of these included “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “Grease.” “This last one – “Lord of the Flies” – was really good because everybody was so close and because it was my last show,” Rademacher stated, “I really pulled out all of the stops, so I felt really good about that.”
Upon reflection on some of her favorite theatre adventures and mishaps, Rademacher said that there was a funny moment that happened “during Good Doctor [2023] when some of the microphones were on and we could hear conversations backstage…then another was when an actor forgot his lines and then dropped the F-bomb.”
Rademacher has some plans she is looking forward to after she retires, including possibly getting a job at Indiana University, working with a company that allows her to travel and set up for conventions, renovating her house, building a website for her husband, learning how to tap dance and taking a class about wine.
Mathematics teacher Shannon Roberts will be retiring at the end of this school year. Roberts has taught at South for 31 years.
His wife, the principal of Rogers Elementary, Lisa Roberts, is also retiring at the end of the school year. The couple recently purchased an RV, and hopes to travel to as many National Parks as possible, as well as visit their children.
There have been many changes at South throughout Roberts’ time at the school. Roberts states that the biggest change has been the building itself, due to the renovation from 1996 to 1999. Another big change during those decades was moving from a traditional schedule to an experimental block schedule and then to the trimester schedule that we currently have.
When asked what he will miss most about South, Roberts said, “working with students…working with the great group of teachers that we have in the Math Department. One thing I will not miss is grading all of the homework and tests.”
Spanish teacher Ramon Garcia (and his dog Sasha) and Assistant Director of Orchestras Juli Enzinger will also be retiring at the end of this school year.
