A celebration was held in teacher Justine MacMurry's honor and students from throughout her past three decades teaching came to toast her.
Teacher Justine MacMurry is retiring from her job after more than 30 years at Meigs Middle Magnet School in Nashville, Tennessee.
A celebration was held in her honor and students from throughout her past three decades teaching came to toast her.
MacMurray recently was diagnosed with cancer.
"I ended up having a seizure," she told WTVF of her first symptoms. "At first, they were thinking it was a stroke or something like that. They did an MRI and found there was a tumor."
She quickly started cancer treatment, but still has 10 months of chemotherapy left.
Throughout her tenure, she’s been a beacon of hope for her students, including one who told her, "You are absolutely one of the best."
And as a track coach, she encouraged kids to see their potential.
"At recess, she'd say, ‘see that girl there, she needs to be on my track team. I need to talk to her,’” one student recalled. “She's always looking for track kids."
And so at her retirement party, there was one final hurrah around the loop.
"You don't realize, sometimes in teaching, how much of an impact you make,” she said. "I've always tried to get that I've done something that was purposeful...and worthwhile. So it felt good today cause it felt like, wow...I did make some kind of impact."
