Wadeeah Nashid, who has been a prominent member of the WHHS community for a large part of her life, has decided to retire. She leaves students and staff with her everlasting legacy. 

Nashid attended high school at WHHS and returned almost 33 years ago to her alma mater to launch her teaching career as a math teacher. After Nashid graduated from WHHS, she completed her undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Cincinnati. She then went on to student teaching right back at WHHS and soon became a full-time teacher. “Having an entire career begin and end in the same place is really inspiring,” Nashid said. 

Being a part of the WHHS community for such a long time has created a colossal impact on Nashid’s life and on everyone else who had the opportunity of knowing her. Teaching hundreds of kids for decades has allowed Nashid to see unique traits from each student, which had a huge influence on her life. 

“When [teaching at WHHS] you’re exposed to so many different types of people, people from different walks of life, different philosophies and educations and religions and different outlooks on life and so the ability to be exposed to that kind of diversity is impactful,” Nashid said. 

Along with the influence she had on students, Nashid also changed the lives of other teachers. One of those being Debra Armstrong, another esteemed math teacher at WHHS. Armstrong also attended high school at WHHS and returned to become a math teacher. Armstrong met Nashid in 1981 when she was a sophomore and Nashid was a SENIOR. Since the two have worked together, only a few classrooms down from one another, they have learned from each other’s experiences and teaching journeys. 

“She has taught me how to be professional, as a teacher. I’ve learned how to be a continuous learner myself and how to not sweat the small stuff,” Armstrong said. 

Armstrong and Nashid roamed the halls of WHHS together since high school and created a friendship that they will never forget. “She’s helped me survive terrible times and I strive to attain all the great qualities she has,” Armstrong said. 

Over the years, Nashid has been inspired by the admirable qualities of the other teachers she worked with. “My colleagues are some of the best in the world. They’re very intelligent and hardworking and dedicated to the students so that kind of camaraderie is something that you aspire to have. It makes you very conscious of your own practices and makes you strive to be better,” she said.

When leaving an environment where you interact with students everyday, it is common that you hope to make an impact on them. Nashid only hopes that she helped her students grow as individuals. 

“[I want] my students to recognize their own worth and that they are willing to work hard for themselves and are willing to challenge themselves to be the best that they can be,” she said. “I would hope that they took away from my class how to be a good student. It wasn’t about me necessarily being a good teacher, but how you can tap into what you need to do in order to improve your ability to learn.” 

After many years of hard work, Nashid is ready for retirement and to take on this new journey. 

“I’ve worked hard for a long time. I want to relax, I want to enjoy my grandkids. I would like to spend some time with my husband just relaxing and traveling and visiting family around the world,” Nashid said. 

Nashid hopes to travel and experience new activities during her retirement. “My husband and I talked about getting an RV and traveling around the country. We are also hoping that the world environment will get to a point where we can travel internationally again because I would like to travel around the world,” she said. 

As Nashid packs up her classroom, she wants all of her students to remember one thing before her departure: “[I want my students to know] that I love them. I want them to be successful as much as I wanted my own children to be successful.” 

Before she departs, Nashid would like to leave the WHHS community with a few final words of wisdom. “Take it one day at a time. Never feel like the challenges are so much that you can’t take one more step. You can always take one more step. Just never give up.”