Physics teacher Ken Wadman is retiring after 15 years of teaching, and while sad about leaving his connection with students and colleagues he looks forward to picking up old hobbies and enjoying his new sense of freedom.
Wadman, who began teaching at Algonquin in 2010, will retire at the end of the year. One of the things he will miss most is the interactions with his students.
“That’s the best part about teaching, getting to know all the kids and developing relationships with them,” Wadman said. “I’ll miss that.”
Wadman not only taught his students, but gave them someone to look up to. According to physics teacher Nate Largesse, Wadman is always ready to step in and help without hesitation.
“Mr. Wadman brought a combination of intellectual rigor and fatherly compassion,” Largesse said. “That was exemplified by the very successful AP Physics program that he ran and taught for about 14 or 15 years, but also teaching lots of other levels of physics and being an excellent role model and trusted adult to all kinds of different kids who maybe needed someone like him in their life.”
Wadman is bittersweet about leaving Algonquin. He will miss chatting with his coworkers and building strong connections, as he has always been a helping hand to those who have needed it.
“He is a good listener,” Largesse said. “He is almost always available if I just want to pop in and chat about something unimportant or very important. I am not sure if anyone else will quite fill that role. I will really miss being able to readily chat at a moment’s notice.”
With more time on his hands, Wadman plans to pick up old hobbies like playing guitar and piano.
“These are things I did a lot in the past, but over the last 10 or 15 years they have sort of fallen away,” Wadman said. “I want to come back to those things that used to give me a lot of pleasure.”
During the summer, Wadman also wants to spend his free time giving back to his community by helping out neighbors and friends.
“I am going to make some big improvements on my woodworking shop,” Wadman said. “I plan to do handyman work for people in the Shrewsbury community where I live, especially the people who live on my block. I just want to get that ready for doing woodworking. It’s ready now, but it could be better. So that is what I am going to do this summer.”
He also looks forward to more time to travel without the restrictions of school vacations. Wadman is hoping to travel to Costa Rica and possibly South Africa, although he does not have any solid plans yet.
Largesse, one of Wadman’s closest friends, is someone he will miss in his retirement. The two of them are often found chatting or just spending time together.
“Well, for many years I’ve worked closely with Mr. Largesse,” Wadman said. “He and I started here at the same time, in 2010, and even though I am much older than he is, we have been very close friends for all that time.”
Largesse remembers becoming instant buddies when Wadman helped out with lesson plans for the week and gave him a pep talk during the first day of school. Largesse also reminisced about their memories of attending the Science Olympiad coach meetings together.
“We would meet up there and sit in the back,” Largesse said. “We would drink our coffee and be grumpy, but overall had a lot of fun. It was something we didn’t want to do, but it was really fun to do it together.”
Largesse has gratitude for the way Wadman treated him, specifically when they first started working together.
“I am very grateful for his mentorship and friendship, especially early on in my career, as it was priceless and I could not have gotten it from anyone else,” Largesse said.
