Sharon Caplan will retire after 26 years

English teacher Sharon Caplan is "having a second renaissance." After 26 years of teaching Shakespeare, Hemmingway and Steinbeck, Caplan has decided to pursue her other interests, including politics (she hopes to work on John Kerry's campaign) and marine biology.

Caplan began her career teaching English at Redland Middle School. After the birth of her daughter, Caplan took a six-year hiatus from teaching. Divorce rendered her a single mother and later catapulted her back to work at John F. Kennedy High School. Not long after, she accepted a position at Blair.

Reflecting on her past experiences, Caplan says she will fondly miss the Communication Arts Program (CAP) and the friends she has made in the English department. The decision to retire from teaching, she adds, is not so much the end of a career but the start of a new life. "The world is changing, and I'd like to change with the world."