Collins Hill High School senior, Ashley Witrick, doesn’t have to walk far to find her mom – even at CHHS.

            Collins Hill High School’s Media Center Clerk Annette Witrick’s daughter, Ashley Witrick, attends CHHS as a senior this year. Mrs. Witrick’s job varies from most other staff members at CHHS because she work in the same environment as the one her daughter attends high school in.

            And Media Specialist Amy Golemme and Language Arts Department Chair Carolyn Garner also know the feeling. 

            Mrs. Witrick started working at the CHHS Media Center four years ago when Ashley was an upcoming freshman.

“I did ask her how she would feel about me working where she went to school,” Annette said, “I made sure to take her opinion into consideration.”

            Ashley said she enjoys being close to her mom.

“My favorite part about having my mom work at my school is how I can go up to her in the hallways and scare her,” she said.  “It’s pretty funny seeing her jump and watching her surprised face.”

            Mrs. Wttrick said, “Getting to know her [Ashley’s] teachers more is the best advantage of working where she attends school.”

            Amy Golemme’s daughter, Sonia Golemme, is a senior at CHHS this year like Ashley Witrick.

            Like Annette, Amy asked Sonia before deciding to choose the job opening at CHHS. “Lucky for me she said yes,” Annette said “she told me she wouldn’t mind me taking the job.”

            “Getting to know my daughter’s friends more is definitely an advantage,” says Mrs. Golemme. “They come and go from my office all the time and it’s nice.”

            Garner, one of CHHS’s initial teachers here since 1994,, has also had the experience of working where her children attend school.

 Jake, Carolyn’s oldest son, and Zack were both enrolled in their mother’s classroom during their high school education at CHHS. She described the times she spent with her sons in her class as “enlightening experiences”.

Mrs. Garner stated that her favorite memory was “when my son knew the answer to a question on the board the first week of school. I felt like jumping up and hugging him.”

While Garner said she cherished the school time with her sons, she knows they, too, loved the experience.   

            “They miss me just as I miss them,” Garner said. “I think that like all children who graduate they really miss having teachers who truly care about them.”