McClughen prepares for retirement after 33 years at MSJHS

By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com

When the school year ends, approximately 255 students — and Dianna McClughen — will be leaving Mahomet-Seymour Junior High School.

The students will be promoted to high school after three years in the building.

McClughen has spent 33 years at M-S junior high.

Her next assignment won’t be at the high school, however.

She will be retiring as an eighth-grade special education teacher.

Though she has had the same duties for three decades, McClughen learned long ago that it’s not a matter of doing the identical thing.

“I realized early in my career that teaching is never boring or the same from day to day and year to year,” McClughen said. “Just about the time I embraced a new curriculum or state regulation, it would change.”

One thing that never changed was knowing what direction she wanted her life to take.

A graduate of Centennial High School, McClughen said, “I truly have always wanted to be a teacher.”

She started that journey at Parkland College, where she had an experience that helped shape her exact path.

She earned her associate’s degree in therapeutic recreation.

“Through that program, I worked in a couple of schools for special-need kids, which motivated me to go into special education and pursue my teaching dream,” McClughen said.

She finished her bachelor’s degree at Illinois State University.

McClughen had the good fortune of being hired by the district where she was assigned to student teach.

“I student taught at Lincoln Trail and then the junior high,” she said. “I was offered a job the year I graduated from ISU, at the junior high teaching sixth grade special education, and never left (the district).”

She spent three years at the sixth grade level and the past 30 at the eighth-grade level.

“I always thought I would like to teach grade school until student teaching at the junior high and I knew that is where I was meant to be,” McClughen said.

She never regretted the age group she chose to focus on.

“Junior high students have always been challenging because they are growing and maturing at different rates,” McClughen said. “I have always enjoyed watching the students from the beginning of eighth grade to the end grow and mature.

“All kids, no matter their age, just want to be accepted and loved. When you build relationships with students, you are giving them a safe place to be themselves.”

McClughen believes the education process at the junior high was a two-way street.

“Most of my favorite memories are the students who I learned from,” McClughen said. “My students taught me as much as I taught them. I learned something new about kids every year.”

Years ago, she was helping a student with science.

“He just wanted the quick answer to write on his homework and I was helping him look in the textbook to show him where to find the answer and he asked me if he could go to the office,” McClughen recalled. “I asked him why he wanted to go to the office.

“He said, ‘To find someone who knows what they’re doing.’ I still laugh about that when a student asks for help finishing work.”

McClughen’s highlights include ones that took place long after she had worked with a student.

“Some of my best memories come from my now adult former students sharing their memories of ‘Mrs. McClughen’ when I see them out,” she said. “I learned early in my career that being fair, firm, and friendly — in that order — was the way to gain and show respect to all students and I feel like it’s worked out pretty well for me.”

Throughout the years, McClughen has had multiple influences and inspirations.

“I have been so fortunate to have worked with so many strong educators in my career,” she said.

“As I learned from my peers and mentor, Linda Parnell, I became a better educator.

“My parents taught me to work hard and be respectful.”

Parnell was the supervising teacher when McClughen student-taught at the junior high and eventually, she said, “was my ‘go-to’ for many years.”

McClughen is thankful for some of the changes that took place during her tenure.

“I can still remember writing Individual Education Programs for my students on triplicate carbon paper,” she said. “We are now using computer programs for everything.

“Teaching is much different today because of technology.”

She will retain more than memories to look back and reflect on.

“I still have my lesson planning books from when I first started,” McClughen said.

For almost a decade of her tenure, her work day didn’t end when the final school bell rang.

She coached junior high and high school volleyball for nine years, and junior high track for five years in the late 1980s and into the ‘90s.

“I coached and felt like part of a positive community with a very strong school district that I was proud to call mine,” McClughen said.

The years passed without McClughen actively seeking employment elsewhere.

“I grew up in Savoy and knew I wanted to stay close to home,” she said. “I was so happy in the district, I never even considered looking for a different job.

“Six years after I started, I had my son (Joel) and wanted to raise my children in the same district that I taught. I moved to Mahomet in 1992 and It just always seemed to be a great fit.

“I never had any interest in going to another district. I love teaching and coaching, and Mahomet had so many great opportunities, I never left.”

Until now.

McClughen is not expecting to second-guess her decision to retire.

“Never say never, but subbing isn’t part of the plan right now,” she said. “I don’t see coming back as a sub.”

There’s no danger she’ll forget that retirement is on the horizon by the end of May.

“My peers remind me often and that makes me stop and think of the finality of my career,” McClughen said.

As for how she will spend her newfound free time, she has an assortment of options.

“I enjoy reading, biking and exercising,” McClughen said. “I am going to travel to see family in beautiful states and enjoy not having a daily commitment.

“It’s been a great time, and I am looking forward to another chapter in my life.”