The days of setting alarm clocks is coming to an end for about 60 Calvert County Public Schools employees.

On Thursday evening, they were celebrated at the CCPS 2012 Retirement Celebration at the Rod ’N’ Reel Restaurant at the Chesapeake Beach Resort and Spa.

“Such a commitment cannot and should not be overlooked,” said CCPS Assistant Director of Human Resources Victoria Karol, who presided over the ceremony.

The night’s other speakers included CCPS Superintendent Jack Smith and Calvert County Board of Education President Rose Crunkleton.

The dinner was accompanied by the Calvert Chamber Players.

Smith said when preparing his speech he looked up the term “Game Changer” online; “And I’m not encouraging anyone to do that,” he said of the Internet search.

The description Smith said he liked the best was “radical shift.”

Like retirement, Smith said other “radical shifts” in life include starting school and taking a first job “where you really have to show up and pay attention.”

Smith encouraged the retirees to think about what their next step will be.

“I hope the game is excellent and you win the game,” he said.

Crunkleton joked that the retirees should be forewarned if they’re planning to leave the county.

“People ask, ‘Do you really eat emu?’” Crunkleton laughed, referencing a news story that “put Calvert County on the map.”

“We’re simple people — all roads lead to Route 4,” Crunkleton said, adding on a more serious note, “I hope you enjoy retirement, where every day’s a Saturday.”

Northern Middle School U.S. history teacher Barbara Smith-White, 59, said she was excited to have more time with her two new grandbabies.

“I’m leaving feeling upbeat about the job I did,” she said, adding it was always her plan to retire when things were going well.

“I didn’t want to leave feeling ugly about it,” Smith-White said.

She said she would miss “the camaraderie of my colleagues” and her subject matter but not “grading papers and getting up at 5 a.m.”

“It was just hard; I wanted to retire,” said Southern Middle School cafeteria worker Sarah Kenney, 62.

Kenney did say she would miss the students and “working with the girls” in the cafeteria.

She said she was planning to eventually work as a substitute in the cafeteria.

Leanne Spicer, a history teacher at Windy Hill Middle School, said her retirement was timed specifically to be the same year as her husband’s.

“We want to travel and do the things retired people do and spend time with our granddaughter,” she said, continuing that the highlight of her job was “just watching the kids change over the year.

“To see the progress they made and how their personalities change, especially in middle school,” Spicer said.

Mount Harmony Elementary School instructional assistant Helen Wills, 68, said retiring after 38 years with CCPS was too soon for her.

She said she had to due to medical reasons.

“She was going for 40 [years] so she could get the mantle clock,” said Mount Harmony Principal Liz Gebelein of the present that all 40-year employees receive.

“I wanted that clock to put on the mantle,” Wills agreed. “Is someone gonna get me one?”

Wills said being retired would take some adjusting.

“Right now I’m calling it my ‘leisure time,’” she said, adding that her eventual plans include “exercising, bingo; some fun things.”

ldukes@somdnews.com

2012 Calvert County school system retirees

Christopher Jensen Appeal Elementary School

Geraldine Jensen Appeal Elementary School

Terese Scruggs Barstow Elementary School

Cheryl Dolinger Calvert Elementary School

Robin Shaffer Calvert Elementary School

Karleen Trost Calvert Elementary School

Angela Burbank Dowell Elementary School

Mary Connell Dowell Elementary School

Carolyn Ghezzi Mt. Harmony Elementary School

Bonnie Petrarca Mt. Harmony Elementary School

Barbara Sparks Mt. Harmony Elementary School

Helen Wills Mt. Harmony Elementary School

Donna Boylan Mutual Elementary School

Jo Deska Patuxent Elementary School

Jane McDonald Patuxent Elementary School

Elise Thompson Patuxent Elementary School

Dennis Vogel Patuxent Elementary School

Bruce Armstrong Plum Point Elementary School

Carolyn Jones Sunderland elementary School

Nancy Miller Sunderland Elementary School

Beverly Page Sunderland Elementary School

Kathleen Andes Calvert Middle School

Vernell Brooks Calvert Middle School

Ersaline Hammett Calvert Middle School

Susan Pape Calvert Middle School

Margaret Jenkins Mill Creek Middle School

Ellen Gross Northern Middle School

Roland Gross Northern Middle School

Cynthia Hayward Northern Middle School

Lorraine Shamberger Northern Middle School

Barbara Smith-White Northern Middle School

Jeanine Gruver Plum Point Middle School

Edith Commodore Southern Middle School

Ellen Hahn Southern Middle School

Sarah Kenney Southern Middle School

Mary Brown Windy Hill Middle School

Josephine DiMarco Windy Hill Middle School

Rose Knobel Windy Hill Middle School

Leanne Spicer Windy Hill Middle School

William Colvin Calvert High School

Mary Friedman Calvert High School

John Major Calvert High School

Deborah Soper Calvert High School

Gary Graff Calvert High School

Gerald Franks Huntingtown High School

Michael Henshaw Huntingtown High School

Sharon Whalen Huntingtown High School

Bernadette Hager Northern High School

Michael Ladd Northern High School

Kandia Spain Northern High School

Marguerite Kaupp Patuxent High School

Glenna Mutchler Patuxent High School

Irma Boucher Calvert Country School

Andrea Rea Calvert Country School

Betty Reynolds Calvert Country School

Larry Ringgold Career & Technology Academy

JoAnn Roberts Instruction Department

Flora Zwahlen Instruction Department

George Weems Jr. Maintenance Department

Karen Neal Student Services Department