At the end of the 2022-2023 school year, Mrs. Gayle Tracey will be retiring from teaching physics and chemistry after ten years at EHHS. She has prioritized building strong relationships with and making a comfortable environment for her students.
Mrs. Tracey moved from Yonkers, New York to CT at four years old and has been here since. She earned many degrees: a bachelor’s in biology and a minor in Chemistry from UCONN; a bachelor’s in Human Biology from the National College in Chicago. Mrs. Tracey is both a teacher and also a Chiropractor. She doesn’t work as a Chiropractor anymore because she expressed she can’t be a teacher and chiropractor at the same time. “One career at a time,” states Mrs. Tracey. She knew that she wanted to be a chiropractor and was going pre-med, but she also loved Chemistry. She got her teaching degree in chemistry after her husband told her that teaching would be good for her. “When I retire [from EHHS] I might go back into being a chiropractor,” states Mrs. Tracey. She teaches both chemistry and physics at EHHS and likes them both; “Both are math-based sciences and I like making hard science doable.”
Mrs. Tracey did student teaching in Hamden Public Schools. She remembers that student teaching was exhausting while having 2 toddlers aged 2 and 4. After that, she worked at Manchester High School and then at a State technical high school for five years at each of those schools. She preferred being at a smaller school than a bigger school, explaining that when students don’t feel lost, it makes her happier.
She speaks fondly of EHHS because all the teachers are supportive and the students are friendly. In becoming a teacher she was happy to be home with her kids in the summer, but also teach kids chemistry, that science is fun, to be responsible, and to become more mature. She indicated that she’s proud of the good rapport she has with students and “having students say they like chemistry and coming back from college to tell me how well they did in chemistry is wonderful.”
Junior, Naja Brown has Mrs. Tracey for Chemistry. Naja says Mrs. Tracey is nice and caring about her students. She likes her teaching methods, demonstrating that even when she is teaching faster, she slows down when you need to. She says that the classroom environment is funny and comforting. Naja explained that Mrs. Tracey constantly helps her with work and labs when she doesn’t understand the material. “She is more understanding than other teachers, she doesn’t rush either which is nice,” said Naja.
Senior, Autumn Clancy has her for Physics and shares that she likes Mrs. Tracey and that she’s a very kind teacher. She’s always trying to help her students understand the material. She expresses how Mrs. Tracey will show them how to do the work and then gives practice problems. Autumn also likes how they are able to work together with classmates to complete their assignments. Autumn describes the class environment as very comfortable and how they are all pretty close. She says that Mrs.Tracey is understanding when it comes to breaks she doesn’t give them as much homework. “She’s a very experienced teacher and she develops a relationship with her students instead of just teaching us,” said Autumn.
With Mrs. Tracey’s retirement coming up, she’s considering going back into being Chiropractor or working in Community college in the future. This has been a personal goal, and she’s excited to finally commit to it. Mrs. Tracey will be missed truly.
