Faculty Farewell: Ms. Wikner

Michelle Wikner, a chemistry teacher at West, plans to retire this year.

Vivian Polgreen and Vera Tanas|February 20, 2023

Michelle Wikner has been teaching at West High for 23 years. However, she didn’t always want to be a teacher. After graduating college with a degree in biology, she went to medical school to be a doctor.

“My senior year of college, I went to Tanzania in a study abroad program with the college I was at. And one of the things I did in Tanzania is I worked in a school. I helped out in their science department teaching biology and chemistry. I had so much fun [teaching], that part of me was thinking, ‘I might actually kind of like this’ but I had already gotten into med school. That was just kind of the path that I was going down,” Wikner said.

Partway through medical school, Wikner decided it wasn’t for her, and that she would rather pursue teaching. She went back to school to get a teaching license.

“I told myself I was going to try [teaching] for five years, that I needed to give it more than just one year, and then if I didn’t like it, I’d just do something else. And here I am 30 years later, so it turned out okay,” Wikner said.

“

…When you’ve got fire and you get to play with matches, these things never get boring to me.

— Wikner

Wikner started teaching biology and chemistry but soon realized that she liked chemistry better, and she now teaches Chemistry Honors and AP Chemistry.

“I just think learning how the world works is cool and interesting. I feel like it should be interesting to everybody and clearly, it’s not,” Wikner said. “I feel like in chemistry, [students] have some good avenues and maybe spark some interest where people thought they weren’t good at it, or maybe they weren’t that interested in it. But, when you’ve got fire and you get to play with matches, these things never get boring to me.”

In retirement, Wikner will miss working with teenagers.

“I really appreciate that they just bring so much energy all the time. It’s always fun. It’s always a learning experience with a lot of energy,” said Winker, “There’s always a couple of days before school starts in the fall that are just teacher days, and they’re so boring.”

Wikner’s favorite part of teaching has been being able to teach and inspire students to learn about chemistry.

“I remember one student at the end of the year. He said that he couldn’t believe how much he learned looking back on the year and he’s like, ‘You tricked me.’ That’s like the best possible scenario when you’ve been tricked into learning and realizing that you’ve learned a whole bunch of stuff and that it wasn’t painful,” Wikner said.

In her retirement, Winker is planning to spend some time volunteering in the community, visiting her kids, and camping.

“I want to go on a national parks tour, and take my tent, and do some camping, and maybe some hiking, and some biking for five days at one national park and then mosey on to the next one. I can go when it is not the busy season, so I can go to the National Parks when there aren’t a million people,” Wikner said.

“

A lot of us have been here with each other for all these years, and so we really know each other and we’ve been through a lot together… it’s more just losing a friend

— Walling

In her retirement, Wikner will be missed by her coworkers. Carolyn Walling, who also teaches chemistry at West, talks about her friendship with Wikner and the other science teachers.

“We’re a really tight group,” said Walling. “A lot of us have been here with each other for all these years, and we really know each other and we’ve been through a lot together… it’s more like losing a friend.”

In addition to Wikner’s retirement, many other teachers are retiring this year as well, because of the school board’s decision to raise teachers’ pensions.

“It’s just, the whole thing is sad because we’re losing so many good people who’ve been here for a long time and have a lot of experience. I think it’s going to take years to get that experience back again,” said Walling. “But she’s a legend, and she’ll be missed.”