Written By: Emily Rogers, Staff Writer
DEVOTION: Mrs. Beck’s dedication to education remains unmatched.
With thirty-seven years in education and 18 years at our very own Poly High School, Sharada Beck is officially signing off. Enjoying the lively and exciting environment of being a high school teacher shaped Mrs. Beck’s teaching over the last two decades as she recognizes that, “Poly has been a great place to work” before she adds in a quick, “much better than middle school.”
Mrs. Beck, unlike many teachers, originally had no intentions of teaching; in fact she had devoted her time and schooling long before becoming an educator to working in a hospital. Having majored in biology at Biola college, Mrs. Beck believed that working within hospitals as a lab technician was going to be her one and only career. However she experienced quite the distaste and hatred for her original career choice. As she spent a majority of her time running blood and drug tests, Ms. Beck had come to the conclusion that after four years of work, she “hated what she did.” From that point on, she decided to go back to school owing her credentials to a, “mixture of Biola and UCR” as she began to focus on being an educator.
Teaching became Ms. Beck’s life, and she recognizes the enjoyment her teaching career has given her. She remains thankful she made the switch in career choices. Even for those who haven’t had the blessing of being in her anatomy class, she remains one of the most recognized teachers on Poly’s campus. She is known for her presence at almost every sporting event and other events for Poly, where she takes the most beautiful pictures to share with the Poly community. Her shoes cannot be filled.
As Mrs. Beck looks back at her 18 years with Poly High School, when asked about her favorite year of teaching she can’t pick. However she will mention that, “her first year at Poly stands out the most only because she felt so new.” As so much can happen in the close to two decades she’s spent with Poly, she mentions the craziest moments were oftentimes pranks or even accidents. During one of her many years teaching with Poly, they experienced a lock down as a neighbor to the school reported a student seen with a weapon. Rather than the student carrying a sword as suspected. it was an umbrella that shut down the campus. When thinking of student pranks, Mrs. Beck chooses to remember the crazy food fights during lunch, or even the memorable and well planned out Poly senior water balloon fight that took place across the campus.
With just a little over a week left of the 2022-2023 year its safe to say Poly is fighting for more time. With Ms. Beck, with all she’s had to offer over the last 18 years it’s gonna be hard to let her go. As Mrs. Beck moves onto retirement, Poly wishes her the best of luck with her new chapter in life. Please remember Mrs. Beck – once a bear, always a bear.