Mrs. Svor, Ms. Dowler retiring

Retirement seems to be the trend at Sunrise this year. The faculty is losing many important members, and two more are retiring as well. Child Development teacher and COOP director Gail Svor is retiring, as is Jody Dowler, the COOP coordinator.

Mrs. Dowler and Mrs. Svor started the COOP program over 13 years ago and have been working hard at it ever since.

“We both are so dedicated and put our heart and soul into it, so letting go is kind of hard,” Mrs. Dowler said. “I’m excited, and [it’s] just mixed emotions.”

Mrs. Dowler is looking forward to retirement for various reasons.

“I’m definitely looking forward to sleeping past 4 am, not having a 40 min drive to work,” Mrs. Dowler said. “but most importantly having available time for my family, for those three grandsons and two kids.”

Mrs. Svor has mixed emotions as well about this year being her last.

“I’ve taught everything from kindergarten to junior high to high school,” Mrs. Svor said. “I’ve really enjoyed everybody. I will definitely miss all the interactions.”

The COOP program allows students who have completed child development to continue on learning about children. COOP teachers are in the preschool for 90 minutes every day and are responsible for lessons to teach the children.

Both Mrs. Svor and Mrs. Dowler will miss the children and teachers that they have worked with when they retire at the end of this school year.

“First of all [I will miss] Mrs. Svor,” Mrs. Dowler said. “I like that she teaches far more than academics. She has great role model ability.”

Mrs. Svor has no plans for her first day of retirement, but has goals that she would like to accomplish.

“Hopefully I’ll have grandchildren in the near future,” Mrs. Svor said. “I [also] want to scrapbook; I have photo albums that need work.”