After 40 years of teaching, math teacher Basheer Edun is retiring. He has taught at Campolindo for 29 years.
At the beginning of the year, Edun did not anticipate that it would be his last. “I thought I would go maybe another couple of years,” he said. “As the year went on, I thought I would like to have some time with my family and my daughter.” He added that he will also help his sister take care of his mother.
Vice principal Sharon Bartlett found out in early spring that Edun was retiring. “I was very happy for him, and I was very sad for Campolindo,” she said. “He has had many, many, many students over the years who have fond memories of learning math and even getting to like math because of him.”
“Mr. Edun and I were teachers here together, a long time ago,” Bartlett said. She mentioned that he was an eager mentor of new staff members.
“He’s a very special person,” she said. “He’s very well prepared, and he cares very much about his students and about his colleagues.”
Freshmen Briana Donat and Katy Zarembinski both appreciated Edun’s teaching in their Algebra 1 class this year. “He has a lot of cool ways of teaching us different strategies of solving problems. He helped me better understand algebra and get a more solid footing on the rest of my math classes,” Zarembinski said. “He’ll come before school or he’ll work with you at lunch or after school so that you can understand the materials that he’s teaching.”
“He really seems like he cares about his students,” Donat agreed. “He works really hard and he helps if you’re confused. I’m really sad that he’s going to retire, he’s one of my favorite teachers.”
Edun was inspired to become a teacher after his experience as a tutor in high school. One of the attributes that has help Edun be successful is his approachable, and sometimes humorous demeanor. “The joke answer is, ‘I wanted to become a teacher because I wanted a job with class,'” he said.
“I found that I really enjoyed having people learn from me,” he said. “I thought I would try it out for a while and then I stuck with it.”
Edun will miss the relationships he has built with his students. “In teaching, you have these magical moments, those little connections that you make with not only students but with the staff,” he said. “You have all these nice connections and you’ll miss that.”
