Bernadette Merchant

I graduated from college with a BA in Chemistry and teaching certificates in Science and Math. After teaching high school math in northern NY for 2 years, I had a daughter and moved to South Carolina where I still live. I divorced in 1990, remarried a great guy in 200, and have been teaching middle school math and science for the past 20 years. My brothers and Dad still live in Jamestown, but I have not visited Westfield in ages!

I will never forget my first day at WACS. My mom had just remarried and we had moved to town 2 weeks before school started. We did not know a single sole. My first class that day was chorus. I had my hair cut short, I sang tenor-bass, and my nickname was Bernie. Neither Mrs. Sternisha nor the guidance counselor Mr. Coleman knew if I were a boy or girl . . . and neither did most of the students! I remember going to sit with the girls at lunch and they promptly suggested I go sit with Mark Wilson and the rest of the boys. I moved to a table and sat by myself reading Pigman, a story assigned to us in Freshman English class. Bonnie Hartley must have felt bad for me, because she came over and sat with me. It was the best part of the day and she became my closest friend!