When Señora Raquel Olson assigned a final project to her class last week, she certainly understood the deeper significance it offered for her own life. The project was three-prong; using the proper Spanish verb tenses, students were to describe three events– one about their past, one about their present, and one about their future.

For Señora Olson, the first two categories were simple. She explained that her past consisted of living in Colombia with her mother, and her spending twenty-seven years of teaching at Cathedral. Her future, however, proved more difficult to explain, since she will be retiring this year and is not yet sure exactly where this stage of life will take her.

“You look forward to retirement as soon as you start your career,” said Señora Olson, laughing. “I’m looking forward to having freedom and traveling.”

Her travel destinations are many, and her plans are definitely not rigid. She is excited about the new flexibility she will have and said, “Now my husband and I can load up the car with our dogs and just travel up the California coast before we have a chance to change our minds or turn around.”

Her travel plans go even further than the Golden State. Las Vegas, Sweden, Panama, and Italy are also on her go-to list. Before she embarks on the latter two trips, she plans to take Swedish and Italian classes. She believes that experiencing different languages and places can teach people much about life and about themselves. To her students she advises, “Appreciate the culture wherever you go. That’s how you learn.

Similarly, Señora Olson felt it was a privilege to teach Spanish all these years because, “In my class, you don’t just learn a language. You learn about life.”

Señora Olson always tried to instill key principles in her students minds, like honesty, integrity, and punctuality. “We’re supposed to be people of character at Cathedral, so we practiced that in my class,” she said, motioning to the Expected School wide Learning Results (ESLR’s) posted on the wall behind her.

Junior Paige Haley, who had Olson for both Spanish I and Spanish II, said, “I’ve learned more about reality and life in this class than I have in my whole seventeen years of existence. Señora Olson filled my mind with worthwhile knowledge everyday and was not only my teacher, but my friend.”

These kind of connections with her students help to explain why Señora Olson is going to miss the kids so much. Though she will no longer see them in her classroom, she hopes to see her students eventually. “The best thing is seeing students afterwards, when they begin their careers, seeing them as doctors or whatever,” she said.

Most of all, she hopes that students remember some of the life advice she offered over the years in her class. She said that the last piece of advice she wants to leave to her students is that, “Deep inside, we are good- we are all good. So if you look into your hearts, you will always find an answer there.”