Since 2001, Suzanne Hirsch has served Hudson High School as the main Family & Consumer Sciences teacher. After 40 years in education, she plans to retire this school year. She will be missed by students and staff and remembered as an exceptional teacher and person.
Hirsch knew teaching classes like those in her department would be perfect for her ever since she was young. “I was in 7th grade in Mrs. Scott’s home economics class at Perkins Middle School. I knew that home ec was what I wanted to do by that time. I never thought of any other career because I’ve always had a single focus,” Hirsch shares. Teaching home ec also ran in the family, making it a realistic dream to strive for. “My mom taught home ec during World War Ⅱ in Oklahoma, and it had been her dream as well. I think I learned a lot of things from her, and that’s why I ultimately picked it up.”
Hirsch taught four different semester classes during the 2022-2023 school year. New this year was the Fashion course, which Hirsch believes is a favorite among her students. “I’ve tried to get this class going for five years. It was originally called ‘Textile Construction and Design,’ and that sounds like you build walls, so no one signed up for it. I asked the guidance department if they could call it ‘Fashion’ on the course list, and finally, enough kids signed up for it with 21 students.” The course teaches students about the intricacies of designing clothes, maintaining and altering materials and applying the correct techniques and processes to textiles.
Interior Design is another class she teaches. Hirsch claims that the end project is the most exciting part of the class. “The final project is creating four rooms and designing everything about them. They do a tri-fold board, write about the principle of design and give a 10-minute presentation. Most of them do an amazing job.”
A different class is Child Development, which teaches students about growing up and how to care for children. “The class starts with learning about early stages of development and milestones,” she states. “Then we have a mini preschool, and little kids come on block days for students to plan activities for. They follow a schedule of what you would see at a real preschool. Students have to plan the snacks, the circle time, the book, really everything you could think of.”
Her best-known class is Culinary Fundamentals. Just as she describes it, “Culinary is a big deal.” In culinary, “there are big units and a shop project. We make a myriad of different foods. We make regional foods, German foods, and foods high in nutrients. We make different desserts and side dishes, and we sometimes get to make pies.” She teaches some family recipes during class, including Texas sheet cake, apple pie and goldenrod, but her absolute favorite is the cinnamon rolls. “We put a glaze on top [of the rolls], which are huge and just to die for. I love eating them, and they smell great in the lab when they make them. Some kids will say, ‘Nothing is better than the kind from the store you hit on the table’ before they make them. We compared the two final products, and they never said that again.”
Though her impact here has been great and it might feel like she has always been here, Hirsch has not always worked at Hudson. Her first teaching position was at Copley-Fairlawn City Schools for eight years, followed by a six-year break in which she started a sewing business. After that, she worked at Akron public schools for four years, followed by her current position at Hudson, which she has held for 22 years.
Hirsch claims that the community was why she has stuck with Hudson for so long. “Being here, I always felt supported. My coworkers are completely amazing: I can go to them for anything. The admins have always been pretty supportive. I always felt like if I needed something, someone was going to listen.”
At the high school, her favorite memory was when she learned of her positive impact on past and present students. “At the beginning of the year, teachers were given sheets that seniors have written, sometimes with names, other times anonymously, that give feedback on what they thought about the class and me. Reading some of those really made me want to keep teaching. Students would say that they hated school but loved coming to my class, and hearing that always really impacted me.”
Today many schools no longer offer home ec programs, so she worries about the future of the department. With inflation, the budget seems more limited than before, despite the same allotted amount. Luckily, Hirsch thinks the department will continue after her retirement, regardless of these factors. “I was told there was a great need for electives, and the sign-up for culinary next year is already seven or eight classes, which is really cool. I’ve heard that the job application for my position is now open, and I hope they can include me in the interviews. I’d like to see a young teacher here with new ideas since their classes are probably different from when I was in college in the 80’s.” Hirsch has heard many of her friends call her career at Hudson ‘the dream job,’ so she hopes finding another excellent teacher for the department won’t be difficult.
Hirsch admits that retiring during the start of the pandemic would have been a great time to leave. “Kids didn’t show up to Zoom, there was no graduation and it was just a harsh reality. Teaching at home and [then] wearing a mask made it hard to teach, and I always felt bad that I couldn’t understand the muffled noise.” Even so, she stuck with teaching for three more years.
After retirement, Hirsch is excited to revisit her old hobbies of walking, country dancing, gardening and singing and see more of her family. “I have six grandkids that are all seven and under. I have three sons, and I can’t always go see them. They were in Disney recently, and I was really sad I couldn’t join them. My husband will work for one more year, but after that, we hope to move to Rochester to be with the grandkids. The school bells are really getting to me, with every 50 minutes another class begins, and I don’t want to live my life on a schedule anymore. I want more freedom. I just feel like it’s time and that this is it. I’ve had a great run.”
Instead of having a retirement party, she plans to go on a cruise for the first time. She hopes to go somewhere like Hawaii with “blue waters and beautiful sunsets.”
Hirsch has undeniably changed HHS for the better. Whether it be the smiles she gives in class or the kindness she shows all students, anyone that’s met her at Hudson will miss her. She has one final piece of advice for all high school students. “My advice would be for students to be kinder. We don’t know someone’s backstory and what pain they may be going through. Kindness is a universal language that all understand and brings people joy. Simply talking to your peers is one of the greatest acts of kindness you can do.” At HHS, she’ll be remembered well after she retires. Thank you for everything, Mrs. Hirsch.
