Wednesday, Sept. 14 was a turning point in many Career and Technical Education (CTE) students’ and DECA members’ school year. Ashley Wood, CTE teacher and DECA advisor, left for a teaching position at Chatham Charter School, a high school located in Siler City.
“I wasn’t looking to leave, but an opportunity came up that was hard to pass up,” Wood said.
Wood has taught at Northwood for five years and was the school’s DECA advisor for four. She learned how the organization worked during her first year at Northwood from testing coordinator Kim-Marie Hall.
Over just five years, Wood has developed unique connections with many of her students, as a majority of them are also a part of Northwood’s DECA chapter.
“As far as leaving DECA behind, it’s definitely hard, because I want to see [Northwood DECA] do well,” Wood said.
While she is disappointed about leaving the organization behind, she recognizes the silver lining.
“The [DECA] officer team is without a doubt our best officer team yet, which makes me feel better because I know that [the officers] will take care of everyone when I’m gone,” Wood said.
Though Wood takes an optimistic look on the school year to come, some students are more skeptical.
“I was devastated [when I heard about Wood leaving],” said junior Bryce Tricas, one of Wood’s students and a DECA officer.
“[I’m worried about the new teacher] coming after the year has started, especially because the beginning of the year is when we get a lot of planning [for DECA] done,” Tricas said. “I feel like DECA could struggle.
“With [DECA] competitions coming up, we may have a harder time than usual with all of us trying to adjust to having a new advisor,” said Hayden Rapsky, one of Wood’s students and third-year DECA member. “The juniors and seniors have had Mrs. Wood as their adviser for a long time, so the atmosphere will definitely be different.”
For many CTE students, Wood has been a constant in their high school life thus far, because the classes she teaches can be taken by students in any grade.
“I felt extremely terrible because [Mrs. Wood] was one of the first teachers I had [at Northwood] and she has taught me since I was a freshman,” Rapsky said. “She was always my favorite [teacher].”
While many students claim to be distraught, Wood has hopes for the future, including a warm welcome from students to the new marketing teacher, Bobbie Robertson. And as for DECA competitions in the future, Wood is “looking forward to see [Northwood students] on stage, even though [they] are now a competing chapter.”
– By Riley Wolfgang
