Educator, advisor and friend Michelle Alfonso has retired after 25 years of teaching at Carlsbad High. Alfonso has expressed that her many years of teaching AP Pre-Calculus and Algebra 2 have taken a great load of work, but have also left her with lifelong lessons and friends.
Alfonso is ready for a new beginning after experiencing the external factors that have recently changed the teaching world dramatically. When she first started teaching, students were focused, driven and motivated, but now with the addition of electronics such as smartphones, students have been unfocused and distracted.
“I wanted to retire due to all the changes in technology,” Alfonso said. “Kids have cell phones which are affecting their focus and dedication in the classroom. There’s been a lot of changes in the curriculum and all of these just wears you down after a while and you are ready for a change.”
Alfonso plans to travel in hopes of restarting and start to see her family more often. Once arriving in her new home, she hopes to choose and start a new path or career, which she will decide once she gets there.
“I will be moving to South Carolina and starting my third career,” Alfonso said. “And hopefully spending time with family and travelling.”
Being in Carlsbad for 25 years has allowed Alfonso to become an important part of the Lancer community. With this, the decision of moving comes with bitterness about leaving the Carlsbad society and family.
“I will miss my math department the most,” Alfonso said. “And just the school spirit here at Carlsbad High School.”
Junior Daniel Suarez, a student in Alfonso’s AP Precalculus class shares his positive experience during his time with Alfonso. Suarez believes she has been an incredible teacher for not just her own students, but any other peers that need math assistance.
“She is always very friendly,” Suarez said. “She always has a smile on her face and is willing to teach her students.”
It is not just students who have seen the compassion and liveliness of Alfonso. Alfonso’s long-time friend, teacher Rosa Avalos-Long, has experienced this support from teaching next door to her for years.
“I would describe Ms. Alfonso as a very caring and supporting educator who genuinely cares about her students learning math correctly,” Avalos-Long said.
Alfonso attempts to spread her love and understanding for math to her students in order for them to evolve as mathematicians. She passes her interpretations of math concepts to her students through her interactive lectures.
“Her students have learned to become more detailed mathematicians because she expects that from them,” Avalos-Long said. “I think that they learned how to love math.”
Alfonso hopes that students take her class for more than an impact on their weighted grade or so they can say they are enrolled in an advanced math class. She wants them to learn how to persevere through tough times.
“I hope [students] come away from my class knowing they can do hard things,” Alfonso said. “It’s okay to struggle, it’s okay to fail sometimes, but you have to keep pushing yourself and believing in yourself that you can do hard things.”
