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Mrs. Slater Says an Artful Goodbye

By Selma Nuhic: Betty Slater is a woman of experience and recognition. She first came to Chelsea in 1969 as a "country bumpkin" from New Hampshire. She went to college in New Hampshire and majored in Elementary Education and Art. She has been a teacher for over 30 years, and has taught in both in Vermont and New Hampshire, but her biggest role was being the lead art teacher of the Chelsea school district.

She has seen many changes throughout the years. She was here for the development of all the art rooms and she played a big role in our city's art program. "We got art into the world," said Mrs. Slater. When she first came to Chelsea, there were only two art teachers for the whole district. Since then, the two have grown to a staff of twelve. "?My greatest joy," she said, "is to mentor new art teachers and see them blossom."

Betty Slater's career was a big success. She was elected the Massachusetts Art Education Supervisor of Art last year. According to Betty Slater, she feels that she has done her career right.

The official date of her retirement was February 16th, when she was honored for all of her hard work and accomplishments throughout the years. She was also honored at a banquet planned by her colleagues on Friday, March 8th. She said," I'm very sad to be leaving. The teachers are like my children and my students like my grandchildren."

So why is Mrs. Slater retiring? Since work took up most of her time, she wants to be able to spend more time with her real family. Mrs. Slater is planning on traveling, helping to raise her grandchildren, and spending time in Vermont with her husband, Mr. Joe Slater. She first gave retirement a thought after Mr. Slater, a former long-time chemistry teacher at CHS, retired three years ago. She said that she feels overall fortunate to have all the memories and experiences. "I've thoroughly enjoyed working with everybody in Chelsea and I will just be a phone call away." In fact, the administration has already called Mrs. Slater in to substitute for art teachers out for the day.

So who will take over after she's gone you ask? Mrs. Slater has been training Ms. Maren Olson for the last few weeks to replace her as district-wide lead art teacher. Mrs. Slater hopes the art program is deemed important enough by administrators so that it can continue to grow and flourish after she leaves.

Well, Mrs. Slater, we all hope your retirement is everything you want it to be. Thank you for all you have done for us - students, teachers, our school and city - and our art program itself.

Article posted to chs.chelseaschools.com: .

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