It is difficult to leave behind something you love and look onward to new and unknown opportunities, but that is exactly what Tamara Linares, Spanish teacher, is doing. Linares’s retirement is bittersweet. While she loves her students and her job, she wants as much life experience as she can get.

“I decided to retire this year because I was able to and because I wanted to start a new chapter in my life while I’m still young,” Linares said.

  Linares has been a member of the Etowah staff since 2001, and while 18 years is longer than a lifetime for most of her students, it feels like such a short time for her.

“When I’m done teaching, I am afraid I won’t have that [the experience with her students], but it’s okay because I’ve always gone for the gusto, and I’ve always went for new challenges,” Linares said.

  Her students are her favorite part of the job. They come and go, and in her time at Etowah, she has seen every personality come through her doors and leave.

  “Students keep me alive. They’re so fun. They’re so funny. They’re just mini-human beings, just mini-adults, and I love that,” Linares said.

  Linares has her hand in several extracurricular events surrounding the language department. In the past, she has helped coordinate events like International Night and and National Spanish Honors Society. She gives a unique perspective to everything she is involved in, and soon that responsibility will fully fall on her coworkers.

“I will miss my department because I have really considered them as family and through everything, ever since I’ve been working here at EHS. I’ll definitely miss the department and faculty,” Linares said.

  All good things must come to an end, and this end is only the beginning of a new chapter. Linares says she will have more time to help her husband with his business and her stepson with the next steps of their lives. She wants to connect to her family and offer them more of her time.

“I’m just breathing in every moment, and it’s getting to the end, and I’m getting choked up, but I just, I just will definitely miss that. It’s just a beautiful collage of memories: of light and color and students and voices and song and laughter,” Linares said.

  Gracias, Señora Linares, for everything you have done. ¡Buena suerte!