After 28 years, applied arts teacher Christine Ferreira will retire after fostering growth in students, making valuable connections and contributing to the development of the Applied Arts department.
Ferreira began teaching at Algonquin in 1998 and has taught a plethora of classes in the Applied Arts department, ranging from Business Fundamentals, Business Law, Business Communications, Financial Literacy, Microeconomics, Digital Literacy and Marketing throughout the years. Outside the classroom, she also advised the National Business Honor Society.
Amongst it all, Ferreira enjoys creating meaningful experiences in and out of the classroom and connecting with her students.
In 2001, she wrote and started the Financial Literacy curriculum alongside applied arts teacher Mary Beth Pappas.
“I would say it’s my specialty,” Ferreira said. “I feel like it’s my [biggest] accomplishment.”
In addition to teaching and making an impact on the curriculum over the years, Ferreira has also created memorable experiences that allowed students to make real-world connections while working alongside others.
“[I will never forget] the special project that I did with Business Law, bringing them to the courthouse and doing mock trials with real attorneys and judges,” Ferreira said. “That was really cool; that was a lot of fun.”
Ferreira’s dedication to students over the years is also seen outside the classroom, where she helped create meaningful experiences for students through extracurricular activities. Athletic secretary Susan Baburins, a close friend and colleague of Ferreira, enjoyed working closely with her over the years.
“A really fun memory is chaperoning DECA, because you never know what’s going to happen at DECA with the kids, and that’s been a lot of fun,” Baburins said.
Baburins sees the value and positive impact of the connections Ferreira made with her students over the years.
“Not one student has come down to complain about her and say she’s hard, she’s easy or say she’s mean,” Baburins said.“She just seems like she has a good level-headed teaching rapport with her students.”
Ferreira has especially enjoyed seeing her students’ successes and growth in confidence over time.
“[I will miss] the little things,” Ferreira said. “With students, it’s getting to know them, seeing them at prom, hearing about their experiences, taking them through things that they were afraid to do and just seeing them grow and seeing them so proud of themselves. That’s priceless.”
Through all the journeys she’s traveled throughout her time at Algonquin, Ferreira will especially miss the close connections she’s built with her colleagues in the Applied Arts department.
“We’ve gone through some rough times too,” Ferreira said. “We’re all very, very close and more like a little family. I’ll miss that every day.”
Barburins will also miss the close relationship she’s made with Ferreira through small, everyday interactions.
“I will miss her bathroom duty outside of [my office] because we talk back and forth through the wall,” Baburins said. “We vent to each other and she’s just a good friend.”
After retirement, Ferreira is looking forward to traveling and spending time with family.
“We have a house at the beach in Maine, so we’ll definitely spend the summer there,” Ferreira said. “And then immediately in September, when everybody’s going back to school, my husband and I are going to go to Portugal. And then we’re going to rent a house for a month to see if we like Florida because my daughter’s down there.”
Baburins hopes her connection with Ferreira will continue after her retirement.
“Her daughter lives in Florida and my daughter lives in Florida,” said Baburins. “So we’ve gone to Disney, we’ve met at Disney and we’ve gone to dinner and so I hope that continues.”
Ultimately, Ferreira feels grateful for the students, colleagues and valuable memories over the years that have shaped her time at Algonquin.
“You know, looking back at everything, it’s not easy thinking about what I am going to do in 28 years, but you just take it day by day, term by term, year by year, and all of a sudden it’s 28 years,” Ferreira said. “I look back and I’m so happy that I am still feeling so good about what I do, what I’ve done and relationships I’ve made both with the kids and the people I work with.”
