At the end of this year, Mrs. Elyn Coyle is trading in her English books for plane tickets, as she says goodbye to her MHS family for the past 30 years.

Throughout her career, she has taught a variety of courses including Journalism/ Creative Writing, Broadcast journalism, SCALE Composition, and 7-12 grade English courses. She has also been the advisor of both The Chief and WMHS since 2003.

“I love teaching. it’s what I do, it’s what I’ve done, and it’s who I will always be,” Mrs. Coyle said.

Some of Mrs. Coyle’s best memories of her time in the district include working on a team in Berner, seeing a christmas carol in theater 3 when she taught 7th grade, and the annual trip to Columbia with The Chief, Visions, and the Yearbook.

Before she became a Chief, she wrote manuals for a retail company. After she was asked to do a training instruction course, she became hooked on teaching. When she entered the Massapequa School District, she also chose to make the community her home and sent her own children to school in the district.

Since taking over The Chief, the paper has won countless awards, and the club has gone on many memorable trips. This year, several students and Mrs. Coyle went to the Newseum in D.C., which was an added bonus. “I’m very proud of my work with The Chief and the award winning publication it has become over the past 15 years,” Mrs. Coyle said.

In her retirement, she is looking forward to unwinding and getting used to a much slower lifestyle. She would like to travel, take art courses and learn to play the piano.

Mrs. Coyle is going to miss the people she has grown so close with the most; the colleagues she has had the privilege to work with, the friends she has made, and the students she has impacted.

“What we do as teachers can have such an impact on students’ lives,” Mrs. Coyle said. “And I hope my impacts were positive.”