As many students know, teachers that are passionate about their career and genuinely care about their students are incredibly important to the education system. This June, LHS will say goodbye to three teachers who have had their hearts in it for decades: Cynthia Johnson, Patrick Shannon and Kelley Arnett.
  Retirement, or “graduation” as Johnson calls it, is bound to have amazing things in store for these three instructors. What’s truly amazing, though, is the years they’ve spent dedicated to their students and their careers.
  Shannon has been teaching for 34 years and has spent 21 at LHS. He’s taught everything from Journalism to U.S. History, and his passion transfers from one subject matter to the next. Shannon believes that today, he is the wealthiest person alive, and not in a monetary sense. An excerpt from a short story Shannon wrote backs this up:  
  “No dollar figure can assess the thousands of relationships, friendships, and memories that I have fostered throughout my professional life.”
  Arnett has been teaching for 25 years, with 22 of them spent at LHS. She teaches special education, and looks at her retirement a little differently.
  “I don’t look at it like leaving LHS.  Once a Bengal always a Bengal!” Arnett shared. “I am just changing the capacity in which I will be a Bengal.”
  Arnett has a strong belief that teachers have a significant life-long impact on their students. In other words, the values that students learn in the classroom depend on how good of a role model instructors are to them.
  As for students, Arnett’s advice is simple. Don’t go through life trying to please everyone else, because the job will never be completed, she said. Love yourself.  Be strong, honest and think positive.  Enjoy life, because it really is very short.
  “Every day my students teach me something new,” Arnett said, “We are all life-long learners and I learn as much from them as they learn from me. But most importantly it has taught me that is the most rewarding job I have ever had.” .
  Johnson has been teaching almost her entire “120 years” at LHS, and more about her journey is on page 5, in Questions with Katie.