Susan Massy, the journalism adviser at Shawnee Mission Northwest since 1980, always knew she wanted to be a teacher.
SM Northwest quickly became her home away from home, she said, as she knew there would always be a student there needing advice or attention. Massy said she worked hard to cultivate a welcoming environment, and her classroom became a place students flocked to.
Now, after a 42-year run overseeing SM Northwest’s student publications, including both the newspaper and yearbook, Massy has announced she plans to retire at the end of the current school year in June.
It’s a bittersweet moment, Massy says
- Massy said she doesn’t operate as quickly as she used to and believes it is in the best interest of her students and the program to retire now.
- “It’s really hard to do, because I love what I do, but it’s just I’m not as efficient as I used to be,” Massy said in a recent interview with the Post.
- She said she’s spent 42 years building relationships with students and enjoying their successes, small and large, with them.
- Massy is glad to have kept in touch with many students over the years, from those who continued down the path of journalism as a career to others who went into other fields, including architects, lawyers, doctors and more.
Massy’s career is ending on a high note
- In November, SM Northwest’s yearbook The Lair earned the top spot on the National Scholastic Press Association’s “Pacemaker 100,” recognizing the top student-run publications of the past 100 years.
- In addition, Massy was one of 14 educators earlier this month to receive the Journalism Education Association’s Lifetime Achievement award, which recognized Massy’s “commitment to building a community of care” and a “spirit of family” inside her classroom.
- For her part, Massy said she hopes students know she’s always been in their corner.
- “It’s about them feeling that I had faith in them and that they could do anything, that’s what I want them to have gotten,” Massy said.
She says SM Northwest’s program needs ‘new blood’
- Massy said while it’s difficult to leave, she knows a fresh perspective will help maintain the success of SM Northwest’s student publications.
- She’s spending the rest of the semester preparing students for a new adviser, reminding them to allow the new adviser space to make change and take initiative.
- Massy said this August she plans to take a road trip with her husband and her mother to Alaska.
- As for the rest of her retirement, she hopes to maintain involvement with students and student publications — but has no plans to get a “9 to 5 job.”
