Terrace Hills Counselor Peggy Wahl Retires

Peggy Wahl, Grand Terrace resident, recently retired after 20 years at Terrace Hills Middle School. Wahl began her career as a teacher, and after four years she transferred to Colton High School, then moved to Orange County. However, when she realized that she enjoyed Grand Terrace much more, she made the decision to move back. "My heart belongs in Grand Terrace," she shared. All the while, she was working for her Master's Degree at Azusa Pacific University. When she moved back to Grand Terrace, Terrace Hills Middle School hired her as their new counselor. "They were foolish enough to hire me," Wahl said chuckling. After 16 years of being a counselor at Terrace Hills Middle School, Wahl retired. "I left that job loving it," she shared. "I enjoy being around middle school kids because they are still growing up, figuring out who they are... I enjoy guiding them to make healthy choices." Wahl still keeps in touch with some of her students that are now adults with careers. "We're Facebook friends now," she mentioned while laughing. Wahl wanted to share some of her students successes, "I have three students that are NFL players, one that's a dancer/choreographer for Beyonce, one that's in the Winter Olympics... one that's in the Secret Service," and the list goes on she mentioned. She added, "It's so neat to be a part of their lives while they were young." One of the most memorable events she encountered while she was as teacher at Terrace Hills was when she had her eighth grade students each write a book for each kindergarten student at Reche Canyon Elementary School. Her eighth grade class took a field trip to Reche Canyon Elementary. Each eighth grade student wrote and dedicated their book to each of the kindergarten students and presented it to them that day. "Eighth graders playing with five-year-olds... that interaction will always be in my mind," Wahl shared. As a counselor, she shared that she was very involved with making major decisions that could affect her students' futures. "There's joy in seeing college/careers in their lives," she added. Wahl, over the years, has become extremely close with the staff at Terrace Hills Middle School. She said, "I miss them... they're like family." Now that Wahl has retired, she has been enjoying her life taking mini vacations. She went on an Alaskan Cruise to celebrate her retirement then visited some of her family members in the Midwest. Her next trip she will take will be to Hawaii, to visit her son. Also, every Wednesday she goes to visit her parents who live in Yucaipa. Wahl also takes trips one to two times week to the dog beach in Huntington. She calls them her "dates with dogs". Before she retired, she would only take her dogs about once a month. "It's such a beautiful view," she added. Wahl had her retirement planned out for a while, she told herself that she would retire at sixty. She said, "Sixty's the magic number." "Life is supposed to be filled with wonderful quality things, I truly believe that," she shared.