Ms. Haake’s advice to students: ‘Get involved in school’ you will ‘feel more connected’

Dotty Haake has taught health, driver’s ed., and PE at West for the past 31 years. She was the Assistant Athletic Director for 14 years and coached girls gymnastics for 10 years.

She “loved coaching gymnastics and attending all of the athletic events.” Although she says that she misses “the interaction with [her] students and the collaboration with [her] colleagues,” she looks “forward to doing something different with my days,” and while she is not sure exactly what she will do, she has “a degree in Sports Medicine, [and] might explore jobs in that area.” Or she loves dogs and “might decide to do something with dogs.”

Ms. Haake fondly remembers her first day working at West, thinking to herself, “I am the luckiest person to be working at such a beautiful school in such a wonderful community.” Throughout her time here, she remarked that “although there were many scary moments in the driver’s ed. car, I found teaching students how to drive to be very rewarding.” Her advice to students would be “to get involved in school” as “you will feel more connected with your school if you join some kind of school activity.”

West will miss her and we thank Ms. Haake for her time working here.