Kim Nowak, who teaches health at BHS and P.E. at Bryden, is retiring after 36 years working in the district. 

Nowak didn’t always know teaching would be her career. 

“I was going to go into physical therapy, but at the time there were only three schools that offered physical therapy, so I picked Bowling Green,” she said.

 After graduating she moved to Toledo, but academically and financially this wasn’t going to work for her.

 “My family has 14 teachers, and eight of those are physical education teachers, so I thought I’d go into the family business,” she said. 

Along with those reasons she chose health and PE because she had worked as an athletic trainer. 

Nowak says she has stayed at Beachwood because of the strength of the community.

“In all my years–when a family had a house fire the entire community pitched in,” she said. “When a student suddenly died, the whole community pitched in. It’s like a big family here; they really care about everybody, and I love that.”

Nowak says one of her favorite things about teaching is watching children gain new skills.

“When the younger kids learn to do something they didn’t think they could do, they get so excited,” she said.

Throughout her career she has enjoyed the relationships she has had with students. 

The greatest thing she says she has learned from teaching is that every student is unique. 

“We can not keep treating everyone the same,” she said. “Things in education have to change.”

 “Some kids can’t sit at a desk and learn, so how are we going to adapt to that?” she asked.

“The biggest thing is that we all need to have fun in life,” she added. “We all need to do something that makes us feel good as often as we can.” 

Nowak keeps in touch with former students. 

“I do keep in contact with a lot of students who have graduated,” she said. “We go to lunch and dinner.”

Current Sophomores Lauren and Sophia Nagy-Oleski have been significantly impacted by Nowak in the five months they have known her. 

Sophia said that the first time she came to talk to Nowak, she was struck by her compassion. 

“She just sat there and listened, and you can tell Mrs. Nowak cares about her students,” she added.

Sophia appreciates how welcoming Nowak is with her students, and she has become one of her favorite teachers.

 “I’m here all the time,” Sophia said. “I talk to her all the time; she’s always there; she listens to my drama.”

“She’s like a safe space, even if you’re not her student,” Lauren said. 

Nowak feels that students should appreciate the resources they have in Beachwood.

“You guys have a lot of support in the school, in the community you have lots of protective factors… you have a lot of people who care and I think that it prepares you for college,” she said. “I know that I work with extremely intelligent teachers who push me to be my best, and I would suggest that to all of you, find people who are amazing in your profession and learn from them, they just make you stronger and better.”