Prior to working at Lake St. George Elementary, Susan Adams started her career as a kindergarten teacher at Westgate Elementary School in St. Pete.
PALM HARBOR, Fla. — After more than four decades of teaching, the last remaining original staff member at one Pinellas County School is retiring.
Pinellas County Schools announced the retirement of Susan Adams, who has taught at Lake St. George Elementary in Palm Harbor since it first opened in 1988.
Throughout her 46-year career, Adams mostly taught kindergarten before eventually teaching first and second graders.
Before working at Lake St. George Elementary, she started her career as a teacher at Westgate Elementary School in St. Pete for around a decade.
Adams herself attended school in the county, starting at Fairmount Park Elementary before graduating from Gibbs High School in St. Pete.
Her children also graduated from Pinellas County Schools, including one daughter who is also a teacher in the district.
District officials describe Adams as someone who loves helping children discover their potential and strengths.
“She loves their curiosity, kindness, and eagerness to learn,” the district wrote in a statement.
When speaking to 10 Tampa Bay News, Adams says she believes primary-grade children are often underestimated in terms of what they are capable of.
“They teach me something each and every day, I’d have to say, and in addition to that, they put a smile on your face every day,” she said.
After nearly half a century of educating generations of youth, Adams says she is going to miss the students and all the relationships she’s built over the years the most.
“I love what I do, I look forward to my job each and every day, and I think that’s going to be a huge adjustment for me,” she said.