Each spring, MICDS typically hosts a breakfast gathering to honor retirees and long-standing departures, and all MICDS community members are welcomed to campus to celebrate the occasion. This year, unfortunately, a virtual tribute will have to suffice for the retirement of one of our most beloved teachers, Lower School Science Teacher Christy Moore ’72.
Moore taught at MICDS for 10 years, with the majority of that time spent as the Lower School Science Teacher. She nurtured a love of science and exploration in hundreds of our youngest learners and inspired students to blossom into researchers and chemists, critical thinkers and compassionate leaders. Wonder and discovery permeated every corner of her classroom, which housed an aquarium full of fish, turtles, or crayfish; the Beasley courtyard which she transformed into a chicken and quail habitat; and dedicated spaces for technology, robotics and fabrication, group learning and individual exploration.
Some of her professional accomplishments include the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards in the Lower School, the creation of a fourth grade FIRST LEGO League team and support for FIRST LEGO League Jr in the Lower School; the establishment of the well-loved fourth grade overnight trip to Shaw Nature Reserve; the Invention Convention that showcased student innovation and fabrication skills; and the addition of coding to the Lower School curriculum, including the Lower School Coding Night event. Christy’s contribution to the School will have a long-lasting effect on the Beasley science program and on the lives of students that experienced her as a Master Teacher. Always willing to take on new projects, she coordinated many years of the schoolwide Electronics Recycling Event and coordinated the Lower School Turkey Train among other ‚volunteer‘ work.
To commemorate her retirement, we reached out to her Lower School and Science Department colleagues, and the response was overwhelming. Here are a few excerpts and highlights of the love, well wishes and admiration shared; followed by a handful of photos of our beloved teacher in action through the years.
- Christy provides our MICDS students with a strong science foundation and always finds the pathway to great big ideas via the smallest observations. We wish her well upon her ’second‘ and well-deserved retirement.
- I’ve never seen her in a bad mood, and it is always a pleasure to see her.
- Christy has been such an inspiration for other teachers in the Beasley community. She is so passionate about teaching and learning and sharing knowledge.
- What people may not know is that Christy is also an excellent coach. She has coached Squash and Robotics and has seen great success in each field.
- Christy is always engaged, sleeves rolled up and sharing her love of science with our youngest learners. You can sense her genuine passion for her subject and the care she has for each of her students as she’s helping them become stewards of our planet.
- Christy truly is a team player! She is a problem solver with a can-do attitude. She’s direct and not afraid to ask tough questions to help our collaborative groups find the best possible solutions.
- Most mornings, you can find small children visiting the science lab before school to show Christy their most recent finding. Some days it is the shed skin of a snake, an egg, but there are also times when tiny little live creatures are brought in and Mrs. Moore is excited about it all which transfers to her students. That type of learning is special and Mrs. Moore gives all of her students the shared love of science and the gift of being curious.
- As an Alum of MI, she is fully invested in the community and always has stories to share and knows everything about the school, including helping find obscure rooms where a meeting is to be held.
- She brings everyone together with her positivity and outgoing attitude. She is always the first to volunteer, she organizes our social gatherings and is the first to remember to make a plate for our friends that cook for us every day when we have a special event.
- A bundle of energy; the sharpest, most curious mind; a dedicated educator, colleague and friend with the best sense of humor – what are we going to do without her? She is always engineering and creating – hatching baby quail, hands-on science projects for every age group, making gardens – she is ALWAYS in motion!
- I have never met an educator with a better sense of her audience and the timing required to get her message and lesson across while simultaneously keeping everyone engaged. She makes it look easy but anyone who teaches knows it is sheer magic.
- She is a kind, hard worker teacher who puts all her best effort into everything she does. She prepares these amazingly fun lessons for the children that makes me wish I was a child again and had her as my science teacher.
- Christy always finds extra time in her busy schedule to not only connect with the students but also with her colleagues. She is the person that everyone counts on. She always has a great suggestion, idea or kind words that are always able to lift everyone‘ spirits.
- Christy has in her classroom anything that a person needs – even the unimaginable things such as a needle and thread or a safety pin to mend a button from a student’s garment; a towel for the student who forgot theirs during swim week; or gloves, hat and coat for any teacher who needs warm cloths for carpool – anything you will need in any unexpected situation, time or weather.
- I always appreciate Christy’s thoughtfulness and resourcefulness in her creation of classroom lessons and experiments, her willingness to always pitch in and lend a helping hand, and her quick wit. Faculty meetings will never be the same without her humorous stories and commentaries!
- I will mostly miss Christy’s way of being equal parts honest and thoughtful.
- She loves to challenge the students with her wonderful science experiences and no animal will go homeless if Christy has anything to say about it.
- No matter what job needs to be done she is always willing to pitch in and help. Whether she is hanging lights in the cafeteria and gym, making cheese stick snowmen or wearing her orange vest at carpool, she does it all with a smile on her face.
- Overall, I will just miss Christy’s sense of humor, her willingness to jump in and lend a hand at a moment’s notice, her sincere interest in helping everyone in Lower School feel like they belong, her laugh (it’s truly contagious!), her passion for science and her ability to find humor in the most difficult of situations with our youngest learners.
- A favorite moment was watching her help the JK students dissect owl pellets this year. She had printed bone guides for the students and her passion and enthusiasm for science and for helping the four- and five-year-olds find their own love and curiosity for the subject was evident the entire time.
- I will truly miss Christy’s amazing sense of humor and the laughter and joy she brought daily to the Lower School.
- Her time is endless if a child or colleague has a question, a share, a thought. She puts everything on hold until she spends the time needed to answer, reply and remark. Every single person is the most important person.
- She is the first to: lend a helping hand, donate, take care of, decorate, clean up, volunteer, open her home for end of year parties, pick up a duty and stop by every morning asking, anything I can do?
- Christy is always thinking of others and always trying to help. Even when no one asked, no one saw the need, Christy did.
Congratulations Christy on your well-deserved retirement! From the bottom of our hearts – and across our computer screens – thank you so much for the wonderful impact you have had on our community. Please know that you always have a place at MICDS, just as you have always made a place for every student and community member in your classroom and your heart.
