In light of the school year being close to an end, I figured that one of our teachers deserved a spotlight article for all of the hard work they put in during the school year. Mrs. Drahms puts in a lot of work to our Journalism program and should be recognized for her dedication. Mrs. Drahms is an English 11 teacher and the Journalism teacher here at MHS. She always does her best to make class fun and engaging. 

Mrs. Drahms has been teaching for 17 years.  She told me “17 is her lucky number and she feels like this has been her luckiest year in teaching yet.” Mrs. Drahms has been married for 22 years and has two children, Audra and KC. Audra is 14 and in the eighth grade at Bailey Bridge Middle School. KC is 16 and a sophomore at Manchester High School. Mrs. Drahms loves to spend time with her family and loves to travel with them. 

I asked her if she could no longer be a teacher and what she would do for work instead. She told me that in the past five years she’s become “addicted” to traveling and would probably be a travel agent because she loves planning vacations almost as much as she loves going on them. She’s even had some of her friends ask if she will plan a trip for them! She has been on two trips that lasted a little over two weeks through the midwest to see new places and several national parks. Her “bucket list” goal is to visit all 63 national parks.  She started this goal 3 years ago and is currently approaching 20 parks. 

She told me that she enjoys helping students see English as a fun class instead of something boring and repetitive. Teaching also comes with hardships. Mrs. Drahms said that keeping up with grading is the hardest part of her job. There are 100s of papers that come in at the same time. Many teachers can work hours of overtime and still never be caught up. She even told me that sometimes she dreams about lesson plans because her work takes up a lot of her time. Despite the long hours, her focus is on her students. “Making impactful relationships with students, being a listening ear and someone to help guide is the best part of being a teacher,” Drahms said.

Mrs. Drahms is kind, caring and “a bright spot in my day,” said Matthew Akery. I think it is clear why she is so loved at MHS. When you have a teacher like Mrs. Drahms, you can count on her being her best self in every class. She is a fantastic mother, wife, and teacher. Thank you for all that you do for us Mrs. Drahms!