Special Paraeducator Vicki Resnick roams attentively between desks, offering help to students with challenging classwork and homework as needed. She notices her students’ arms in their laps, phones illuminating their faces. One by one, her students’ arms cross, and their heads fall to their desks. As a doze envelopes the class, she cracks a joke to lighten the atmosphere and bring attention back to the worksheet. 

Resnick offered support for the hundreds of students she’s worked with during her career, but after 21 years at Whitman, Resnick will retire at the end of the 2022-2023 school year. 

Being the eldest of her siblings and cousins, Resnick had extensive experience in helping children before she knew she would be a paraeducator. After falling in love with teaching, Resnick gained a clear view of the profession she wanted to have.

Paraeducators are required to be able to teach all subjects, but they can select specific areas to specialize in. Resnick steered away from english and history classes because of their more subjective nature. Instead, she followed her natural inclination towards science and math because they were more logical.

“It’s either a yes answer or a no answer,” Resnick said. “That’s what I like, just concrete answers.”

For her bachelor’s degree, Resnick attended the State University of New York at Fredonia where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Education and completed two separate minors in math and science. She then received her Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Maryland Global Campus.

Resnick started her career in 1984 as a fifth-grade teacher at Thomas Stone Elementary School in Prince George’s County, where she taught math and science until 1986. She then decided to take a break from her job to take care of her children until 1995, when she became a long-term sub for three years at Sligo Creek in Silver Spring. In 1998, she returned to a full-time position at Children’s International School, a private school, for one year.

At private schools, the curriculum is much more restricted, so teachers have less flexibility when organizing field trips, labs and other supplemental activities. At public schools, teachers can structure their classes and extracurriculars in the way they believe is most beneficial for students, Resnick said. To Resnick, the freedom that public school provides is more attractive.

Resnick returned to long-term subbing in Sligo Creek until she landed a Special Paraeducator position at Whitman in 2002. Although she had more experience as a teacher, she enjoyed being a paraeducator because of the curated student support she could provide.

“I get to help the kids more than the teacher does sometimes,” Resnick said. “I get to talk to kids and get to know them better.”

While her official role is to provide support to students, Resnick often supports the teachers she works with as well. English teacher Elizabeth Keating fondly remembers working with Resnick two decades ago when she had just begun her teaching career.

“I was very unsure of myself during that first year [of teaching], but she gave me a lot of encouragement and always assured me that I was doing a great job,” Keating said.

10 years into Resnick’s tenure, the math and science department needed more staff to help students with the required material. Having minored in math and science, Resnick decided to split her schedule between these departments.

Resnick helped teach on-level Environmental Science with teacher Sherri Gingrich, where she ensured that her teaching adapted to each student’s needs.

  “[She] offers accommodations to students, including reading aloud tests and monitoring students in small groups during tests and [she] works with students in small groups,” Gingrich said.

According to Algebra II teacher Michelle Holloway, Resnick also acts as a student in the class, taking notes and answering questions to help students with questions they have after the lecture. 

Alongside counselor William Toth, Resnick works as one of Whitman’s ACT coordinators to organize the number of students taking the test. She helps set the exact times and dates and all other preparations that need to be made for the test to run smoothly.

Resnick distinctly remembers when she helped one of her students prepare for the ACT, who later scored a perfect 36. When the student called her afterward, her excitement filled Resnick with joy. She was elated that she could help with this achievement, although she attributes all the hard work to the student, she said. 

Resnick works to create an environment where students are not only on task but can still have a good time, junior Amelia Forner Lohan said. 

“Ms. Resnick is one of the reasons I enjoy going to math class,” Forner Lohan said. “She’s really really funny, she makes jokes and she calls people out which just makes everything so much more fun.”

Resnick likes to brighten up the room with her funny remarks and personality, alongside colorful outfits that match her character. Staff and students alike appreciate her unique fashion sense and are always excited to see her walk through the classroom door.

“Ms. Resnick wears the greatest outfits with tights and shoes to match her skirts,” Holloway said. “She has very colorful outfits that are really interesting so we look forward [to seeing her] everyday.”

In retirement, Resnick looks forward to gardening, leading ACT preparation sessions, spending time with friends and family and helping in a county-wide elementary school science club, which she hopes to develop further.

Resnick has a passion for seeing her students succeed, and this helps make school a pleasant place for all students. She also values building long-lasting bonds with them and her colleagues here in the Whitman community.

“[I’ll miss] seeing [the kids] succeed, and also my coworkers — having friends and the relationships that I have here and that I have built here,” Resnick said. “This is a new stage of my life, [I’m] kind of scared, kind of excited.”