SSCS celebrates teacher Barb Handy on her retirement
A momma bear is known for protecting her cubs. Teacher Barb Handy will be remembered as the “momma bear” who was always there to protect her Spartans.
“I am a momma bear when it comes to our school,” says Barb, during a recent interview on her official retirement from SSCS this year. “I am protective and I am filled with love for my students. I often say that I bleed purple and white because I really do feel a sense of ownership for our school and community. The pride I feel is deep and ever present.”
For 42 years, Barb’s business was teaching Business to hundreds of SSCS students, coaching, advising and mentoring them, and helping others who were less fortunate. But last winter Barb was diagnosed with cancer and expeditiously stepped down from the job she loves to focus on her illness.
Barb Handy is recognized at the Secondary Awards Ceremony this year
Started her SSCS teaching career at age 21
Barb moved to Sharon Springs when she was 21 years old and stayed here for her entire teaching career. She made Sharon Springs her home by raising a family here and giving back to her school and community for everything they had given her.
“Sharon Springs is my home and being a Spartan is an honor I embrace,” she said.
When she entered Alfred University in the late 1970s, Barb had no idea she would one day become a teacher. While studying Business and Finance there, a college professor suggested she build a minor in Education as well. So, she fit in extra credits and did a summer session.
“Once I started my student teaching it clicked and I knew then that this was the profession for me,” Barb recalls.
More than four decades later, Barb’s resume since graduating from Alfred University and SUNY-Albany is a laundry list of awards and accomplishments in the education and business field. She began teaching at SSCS in 1982 and leaves behind a legacy of building a strong school Business program and Future Business Leaders of America organization that competes and wins at the state and national level.
In fact, many of the courses and initiatives she helped start remain at SSCS today from Distance Learning and SUNY Cobleskill College credit courses in the classroom to the Post Prom Party and the Caring and Sharing program that supports Sharon families. She has also been a big supporter/coach of SSCS athletics and music over the years.
“Watching our students on the field, the court or on stage has always been enjoyable to me,” she says.
Advisor Barb Handy with her FBLA team competing in Orlando, Fla in 2024
A leader in FBLA for high school students
But when you think of Barb Handy, you think of FBLA, and the many years she spent working with students as an Advisor to improve their Business skills, then traveling with them all over the state and country to be with them when they competed.
“FBLA has enabled me to give our students a multitude of opportunities,” Barb says, “to compete and succeed academically, develop into leaders and travel the country. All of these activities have really benefited our students and I am grateful to our school for financially supporting these worthwhile activities.”
What are her favorite moments as a teacher?
Barb says her favorite moments as a teacher are the times when a student comes back to her years later and tells her that she made a positive difference in their life. “There is nothing that can top those moments,” she says. “When they remember something I taught them or a trip I took with them or maybe something I did or said that helped them make it through … that for me is the most memorable part of my teaching career.”
What advice would Barb give to her successor?
“Give your students the best of you each and every day,” she says. “Life is complicated but when they enter your classroom be sure to give them the education they are entitled to. That means teach them the curriculum but also make sure they know how important they are to you by offering each of them a kind word every day, even when it isn’t easy to do so. That is what they deserve.”
What are her plans after retirement?
“I am sure I will stay connected to our school in many ways and most especially through the Sharing and Caring Program and FBLA. In addition to that I have many family and friends that I plan on visiting now that I can travel without having to wait for a spring break. I also have many activities that I enjoy. I plan to improve my golf game and read those thousand-page books all year long not just during the summer months.”
What will she miss most about her job?
“I will miss my students,” Barb says without hesitation. “I love teaching with all my heart and soul. It may sound cliché but when I am in my classroom and I am working with ‘my kids’ there is nothing greater!”
Barb Handy teaches a Business class
