At the end of this school year, Mrs. Bychkowski, Fords Middle School’s choir director, will close off her 34-year long career to begin a new chapter in her life.
Mrs. Bychkowski announced on January 13th that this spring will be her last semester teaching, and that the upcoming concert in May will be ‘better than ever’. She said that some of the songs she has selected to teach the choir are her all-time favorites.
Mrs. Bychkowski said, when asked about why she had chosen this year to retire, “Well, first of all, I had to be a certain age in order to retire. As you know, I’ve been teaching for 34 years. I have been thinking about retiring for the last few years, and this year, with things that are going on in my family, I just decided that now would be a good time to retire.”
However, Mrs. Bychkowski said that retirement was not an easy decision. “It’s very hard to choose when to retire, because there are always students that you’re leaving behind. There are the seventh graders, who say, ‘But next year is my eighth-grade year,’ and sixth graders who say, ‘But I’ve just gotten started.’ It’s so hard leaving them, but I trust them to do well even after I leave.”
When asked about her post-retirement plans, Mrs. Bychkowski remarked, “After this school year, I’m going to give myself a year to just relax. But after that, I’d love to be part of the Type 1 Diabetic community. My son has Type 1, so I want to help organizations that focus on it. I’m planning to go into classrooms to help bring awareness to Type 1 Diabetes, from the position of both a teacher and a mother.”
Mrs. Bychkowski chose a couple of her favorite songs for the spring concert. One, Three Russian Folk Songs, is particularly close to her heart. “I grew up performing with a Balalaika band. From the age of three, I was onstage. My mother has a huge family, around 60 people. These relatives, they all wanted to learn Russian folk songs. There was a man by the name of Paul, who would sit down with us kids, and teach us, note by note. We would perform together, singing and dancing. As we got older, they would place tambourines in our hands. Around the time I was 9 or 10, they would hand me a balalaika. That was how I gained my love for music. It’s part of the reason I went on and became a music teacher.” Some other selections include Bohemian Rhapsody, and for Chorale, Over the Rainbow. “This is such a beautiful piece. I was worried, when I chose it, that my Chorale would find it too difficult. I had a backup piece ready to go if they couldn’t do it because, after the pandemic, it’s been hard getting my students back to the same level that they were at before, but I can already hear the music coming together.”
When some of her students were asked for their impressions of Mrs. Bychkowski, and how they felt about her retirement, a few were happy to provide their thoughts. As a Choir and Chorale member, and a Showstopper for two years in a row, 7th grader Jaylen D has spent a lot of time with Mrs. Bychkowski, and he offered his take on his experiences under her wing. “I loved hanging out with Mrs. Bychkowski during Showstopper rehearsals, but even her choir rehearsals were fun. She is inspiring to me because she’s so happy and positive, and she has great song choices. We see a different side of her as Showstoppers, which she doesn’t reveal for the choir, because we spend so much time with her, rehearsing in the mornings, or even during the school day. We’ll really miss her.”
Another student of Mrs. Bychkowski’s, Kendal M, said that Mrs. Bychkowski was far better than any music teacher she had in the past, “My two years in Choir and Chorale have been very fun. I’ve never had as much of a hardworking teacher as her. Because, in my experience from my past schools, they would only teach us notes and give us tests, and they were really bad, but Mrs. Bychkowski, she is a very good teacher, and she pushes us to do the right things, and how to get everything perfect, and I feel like, overall, she is just a good teacher with a good personality.”
Mrs. Bychkowski has undoubtedly left an impression on her new 6th grade students, but one of her new seventh graders, Showstopper Kiara A, was similarly impressed. “Mrs. Bychkowski is very nice. She can be a bit strict at times, but it’s to help us become the best musicians we can be. We will miss her classes and her presence.”
Mrs. Bychkowski remarked that she is assisting Mrs. Murphy in the appointment of a new teacher to take her place next year. While we don’t know who will become our new choir director, we can only hope that they will be as good as their predecessor.
Mrs. Bychkowski has had a huge impact on our school, as hardworking and dedicated as she is. We are sad to see her go, but are happy for her as she begins a new chapter in life.
