By Casey Molifua

From ringing her cowbell through the halls on game days, to leading the “roller coaster” during basketball games in the Swamp, Dr. Nancy Becker has always been a high spirited life-force at North Star.

After 35 years as an educator, Dr. Becker has decided to retire. When Dr. Becker said she decided to retire because, “ I wanted to leave while I still had the love and passion of coming to school to teach everyday. Some people retire when they dread going to work, because they don’t like their job.” Dr. Becker said she doesn’t have big plans for after her retirement, but she still would like to stay busy and still have interaction with students.

Dr. Becker has been the principal of North Star High School since it opened in 2003. She said it was one toughest obstacles she has encountered, but it was also one of the most rewarding.  To prepare for the opening, they worked 16-hours a day interviewing for jobs and she said the toughest thing was not having any family feel to the school, but seeing all the pieces to come together into one big puzzle was most rewarding.

Dr. Becker said the difference between being a principal at Lincoln Southeast and North Star is that Southeast had 50 years of tradition and a family environment already built into the school, but North Star was a brand new school. The traditions continue to build, but the family-like environment didn’t take long to come into the school.

Dr. Becker said the number one thing she will miss about teaching is the interaction with students everyday. She said she’ll miss roaming through the halls getting high-fives from students, because that is the relationship she has built with the students. And she will miss the wonderful people she gets to interact with everyday.

We will miss you too, Dr. Becker.