Storey’s dream of teaching lasted 40 years

Retired teacher Sharon Storey (far right) poses with students and teachers in 2016. (Submitted photo)
MIFFLINTOWN – For as long as Sharon Storey can remember, she always wanted to be a teacher.
Looking back over her distinguished 40-year career, Storey accomplished that and so much more. There aren’t enough words to describe the impact and influence of Storey – an amazing educator, coach and advisor – who touched the lives of nearly 6,000 Juniata County students in the classroom, on the playing fields or with a club or organization.
“My mom was a teacher; she taught health and phys ed,” explained Storey, who retired at the end of the 2022-23 school year. “This is what inspired me to be a teacher. I first wanted to be a phys ed teacher like my mom, but it was not a promising field to enter at the time due to the high number of those who would graduate before me in that field and the fact that PA was lowering the requirements in that area for high schools.
“I then considered math, but after taking speech class my senior year – with the amazing Lucy Lehman – and taking my first speech class my freshman year at Penn State, I fell in love with that and chose to major in communications in second education with a minor in English ed,” she added.
Storey’s family moved to Juniata County when she was in fourth grade, and she eventually graduated from Juniata High School.
After she graduated from Penn State, she returned to teach at Juniata, but she found it strange at first. “Working alongside my former teachers and being in charge of my own classroom was a big adjustment,” Storey recalled.
“However, the teachers there quickly made me feel comfortable and like I belonged there – Nancy Kramer, Shirley Covert, Nancy Chrismer and others were very helpful with their guidance and helped me to adjust,” she added.
Storey also became involved in many school activities, which helped to make the transition easier for her.
“Coaching and being the advisor for so many sports and activities allowed me to get to know the students better and see them in a different environment than the classroom,” Storey explained. “Helping a player drive a field hockey ball better, watching a player blast a home run, listening to a singer perform his or her song on stage in May Day, seeing another amazing yearbook in publication or watching the cheerleaders successfully perform a cheer or dance routine made all those extra hours totally worthwhile.
“There is so much more to these students than what we see in the classroom,” she added. “All those activities allowed me to be part of those moments. I have so many wonderful and amazing memories from coaching and being an advisor that I will always cherish.”
Storey served as yearbook advisor for 35 years. She also mentored athletes as she coached field hockey at East Juniata and Juniata for a total of 22 years, softball for 10 years, cheerleading for 11 years, Powder Puff football for four years, assisting junior high boys soccer for two years and running donkey basketball for 21 years.
Additionally, Storey was part of game personnel for many years, including serving as game manager, running the clock, selling and taking tickets and announcing games.
“I was also the AD (athletic director) for a period of time,” added Storey, who continues to perform various game personnel duties. In the fall, she had games five or six nights a week.
Off the field, her list of extracurricular activities is just as long as she advised May Day for 19 years, ran the WJHS new studio for 20 years, which is also how long she did the Christmas skits. Storey also directed the senior class play for two years, served as homecoming advisor for 11 years, kept track of the points athletes earned for 14 years, ran the tableau and lighting for the Christmas Cantata for 33 years, chaired the English department, was on the SAP team at Juniata and was the freshman class advisor for four years.
And, if that wasn’t enough, Storey found time to organize and run countless pep rallies for the high school.
Ask her to remember special moments of her career and she’ll give you a list that would fill a yearbook or two. That’s a tough question. Especially when reflecting on 40 years and almost 6,000 students.
“I had a project that we all loved,” said Storey while sorting through some of her favorite memories. “Students had to take a poem or a song and make it visual. One year, two boys did “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” and made a video in a field on a tractor. One of the boys was in shorts and his sister’s bikini top!
“I loved teaching “Romeo and Juliet” and seeing students who never thought they would like Shakespeare, fall in love with the play,” she added. “A parent told me her daughter – on a Saturday night – was reading ahead because she was enjoying it so much.”
Of course, the memories just flowed for Storey. Each one was just as special as the one before it, but the latest triggered another.
“Speech class Christmas skits were always so much fun with moments from the Zeigler twins’ “girl” fight my first year of teaching speech to the Smith twins’ wrestling match my last year,” Storey explained. “The students are what make every day different from the last one, which helps keep the job interesting.”
Her enthusiasm and excitement for each student’s achievement was genuine.
“I just enjoyed (extracurricular) activities for so many reasons,” Storey said. “Whether the kids played a sport, performed on stage or created a yearbook. It was challenging at times because of all the hours that were put in.”
Seeing students succeed was always the best part of her career, especially their achievements after school.
“I have many former students who are teachers, construction workers, firefighters, a judge, doctors, a DA, engineers, police officers, electricians and so on,” Storey said. “An example is my own son, Luke, whom I had in class, is now an aerospace engineer at Boeing.
“Sometimes, we don’t always focus on the kids in the classroom and what they become afterwards,” she added. “It’s nice to see what they’ve done and their successes. There have been many success stories with all of our students.”
Storey is especially appreciative of her son for being so understanding of her involvement at school. “My son shared his mom with everyone,” she added. “I appreciate that he was able to deal with that.”
While Storey still substitutes from time to time, retirement has given her the opportunity to travel and do other things on her bucket list. Over Christmas, she and Like went out west for two weeks. And she got a puppy.
“I miss the students, so I do enjoy substitute teaching,” Storey added. “Working as game personnel, I see their games and keep in touch. There are parts of it I miss and parts I don’t miss. I miss teaching, but I don’t miss grading papers.”
She admits it’s not easy being in the loop everyday to keep track of her former students’ lives. “In some ways, they froze in time in my mind,” Storey added.
Case in point, she was speaking to a student whom she thought was a sophomore and the student corrected her, “I’m a junior,” she said. “It’s like they stopped because I stopped.
“It’s very different not being there and not being a part of it after being there for 40 years,” she added.
And while Storey is gone – to some extent, she is certainly not forgotten by those whose lives she touched.
Storey had just one final wish, “I’d like to say thanks to everyone in my career – students, parents, teachers and administrators. They meant a lot to me over these 40 years and my family as well,” she said.