SHS is home to countless teachers and support staff. Even so, teachers will decide that it’s time for them to begin a new chapter of their lives.

This year, science teacher Joan Tejchma, English teacher Julie Breeden and business teacher Brent Keck have decided it is time for them to move on.

Julie Breeden

Breeden started her teaching career at Scecina Memorial High School on the east side of Indianapolis, where she taught for seven years. After her time at Scecina, Breeden took a break from teaching for six years before finally arriving at SHS.

Breeden started at SHS as an ISTEP testing and remediation coordinator before becoming an English teacher.

Throughout her career, Breeden has made connections with teachers and students, alike, and these connections have led to her having a successful career.

“Often, one of the very best parts of the job is the people you work with,” Breeden said. “We’ve just always had great people that we’ve worked with here.”

After spending 25 years at SHS, she has decided to retire. She’ll continue teaching part time at the University of Indianapolis this coming fall.

The rest of what she’ll do is still unknown as she plans to take time after retiring to see what’s next.

“I think it’s gonna take me a while to figure out exactly what comes next,” Breeden said.

While Breeden is ready for different things, she is appreciative of the time she has spent at Southport.

“It was a wonderful place to work because it was like coming home in a certain way,” Breeden said.

Joan Tejchma 

Tejchma started her career working as a science teacher. She worked in education for 26 years before she finally found SHS in 2022.“It took me 26 years to find the best place to work out, which is here,” Tejchma said.

While it took Tejchma a while to begin working at SHS, her time here has been better than anywhere else. She has been able to build connections with students and her coworkers.

“It’s been great. This is the best corporation I’ve ever worked with, and they actually treat you like a human being,” Tejchma said.

Throughout her career, Tejchma had many great moments involving students that she’s taught.

Tejchma has taught students that now serve as kindergarten teachers, lawyers and workers for NASA.

“I want to cry. I’m gonna miss this place so much because 95% of my students are awesome,” Tejchma said.

Now, after a long career, she has decided that it’s time for her to retire.

After retiring, Tejchma is excited to have more time to sleep in. She currently lives 40 minutes away from SHS which causes her to get less sleep than she would like. Tejchma also would still like to do something where she’s able to entertain people.

“I might do a podcast. I like to make people laugh. That’s my favorite part,” Tejchma said.

Brent Keck

Keck requested a quiet retirement, but in an email to The Journal, he had this to say about his time at SHS:
“I have been treated incredibly well here and am appreciative of my time at SHS.”