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Date: 6/21/2023
AGAWAM — Nancy Kundl loves anything French, especially teaching it, which she has done for nearly four decades at Agawam High School.
For the past few weeks, however, she has been preparing to wind down her 37-year career at the school. Since Kundl started teaching before the digital age, she has been sifting through lots of paper and lots of memories.
“It’s weird and it’s bittersweet. It’s very exciting on a certain level. It’s terrifying on another. And there are moments when it makes me very sad — this really has been who I am for so long,” said Kundl, who lives in South Hadley.
Her love for French goes back to when she was a child.
“We had these little records that were in French. I would sit down, listen to them, and I would memorize them. I just loved the notion of that being a code. I loved the sound of it. So, I always loved French. French just jazzes me,” said Kundl. “I love the sound of the French language.”
She started studying French in junior high school and kept it on her academic roster throughout high school and college. Along the way, she met teachers who were “amazing and inspiring.” Spending her junior year of college in France “drove it home” for Kundl that she wanted everything about herself to be French.
“I thought it was crazy. But I did and I still wish I were French,” she said. Not wanting to go into the corporate world, but wanting something to do with academia, she started selling textbooks at various levels after graduating from college in 1979.
It never really fulfilled her, so when a position to be the buyer for foreign language textbooks in Europe fell through, she changed course. Kundl decided in the mid-1980s to go back to college to get a degree to teach French — and never looked back. After working as a substitute teacher at Holyoke High School, she began teaching part-time at Agawam High School in 1986 and became full-time in 1992.
Kundl said teaching has not only been a great career, but it’s also been something that has helped to keep her young.
“Keeping up with the kids keeps you young. And that’s been nice. It keeps you sharp,” she said. “And, as corny as it sounds, the rewards of seeing kids accomplish something when they don’t think they can has made teaching fulfilling and rewarding.”
At the same time, Kundl has enjoyed the opportunity to hang on to her language skill and share it with others.
“As a language teacher, you have to not just know things about grammar and vocabulary, but you also need to know what’s going on globally. That’s kept me sharp in an area of study that I’m passionate about,” she explained.
On the flip side, there have been some changes during her long time teaching that has made her work with students more challenging.
“I started before the digital age, so teachers didn’t have cell phones to contend with. Or the internet or social media. We didn’t have Google Translate or ChatGPT. We had none of those ‘minor’ things — as important as they are today,” said Kundl.
The bigger issue that impacts teaching today, she said, is the emotional issues kids are burdened with that they bring to class.
“When they sit down in front of you in a world language class, you’re asking them to take risks. You’re asking them to speak, to open their mouths and say something that might come up as a garbled mess,” said Kundl. “If they’re fragile for a particular reason, at that moment, that’s going to be a really hard ask. We didn’t have to deal with all that years ago.”
Trying to teach students remotely at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic brought its own challenges to teachers like Kundl, who admits she was never a huge “techie” and didn’t like technology.
“I didn’t really see the need for it in the language classroom — except maybe to bring in video snippets of authentic speakers as a springboard, I didn’t see it as anything really necessary in terms of delivering instruction. So, the shift that I had to make in the spring of 2020 was miserable,” she said.
Kundl recalls siting down at her computer at 7:30 in the morning and not stepping away from it until 5 o’clock in the evening.
“It took me so long to figure out how to do things. I would watch a video and I would have to pause it for each step to do what I wanted.”
It was a “tough” few months for her, but Kundl is “super proud” of herself for the amount of technology she learned, and the progress she made technologically during that time.
Among her other proud teaching moments are winning a Grinspoon Excellence in Teaching award, having a former student dedicate his master’s thesis to her, helping to sustain the school’s world language program and inspiring about two dozen students to make teaching a career.
“I’ve just really enjoyed teaching. It’s been a fun job and a fun way to have a career. It’s been trying at times, it’s been very difficult at times, but overall, it’s been fun,” she said.
Kundl is among 14 teachers, paraprofessionals and administrators in Agawam who retired at the end of this school year or who already retired earlier in the year. They were honored at the June 13 School Committee meeting.
Others include Maria Basile, special education teacher, Agawam Junior High School, 24 years; Kelly Birk, special education teacher, Early Childhood Center, 22 years; David Fazio, teacher, Doering School, 26 years; Susan Feyre, assistant principal, Agawam High School, 16 years; Susan Galereave, guidance counselor, high school, 17 years; Suanne Hansen, permanent building substitute, Clark School, 12 years; Brian Izzo, social studies teacher, high school, 15 years; Lyn O’Connell, paraprofessional, Clark, 19 years; Julia Santa, math teacher, high school, 22 years; Thomas Schnepp, principal, Doering, 21 years; Dave Stratton, athletic director, high school, 25 years; Ann Theriault, special education teacher, junior high school, 21 years; and Stacy Wright, school adjustment counselor, junior high school, 21 years.