30 years is a long time. A lot can be done in a person’s life and doing something for that long can shape a person’s life. 30 years is almost half of a lifetime. Spending all that time teaching is quite an accomplishment, as teaching teenagers is not an easy thing to do. Lynn Wren is retiring from Centennial high school as a celebrated science teacher.

Wren’s career started with 10 years of teaching in Florida, then one year in Tigard before spending 19 years at Centennial.

Wren says her favorite memory at CHS was Career week where she was a natural resources instructor. She led a loop hike in the Columbia Gorge, and about halfway through the high schoolers were collapsing and whining about how tired they are. All the sudden, 70-80 year old hikers passed the group, excited and ready to keep going. Wren says this made her laugh laugh uncontrollably.  

He favorite part of the school year is in the fall. She loves the “honeymoon” phase “when everyone has energy.” Everyone is still getting used to the new setup and it is fun. However, some regrets she has is that she wishes she would’ve had more energy and incentive to go the “10th mile.” She said, “Teaching is the kind of career you never perfect,” and that there never seemed to be enough time.

Wren’s family includes her husband, Steve, who is an educator at Benson High School, two sons and two grandchildren. One of her sons is a software engineer for Google, and the other is a welding inspector, mountain climber and professional hacky-sacker. Her plans after her retirement are to spend time with her family, focus on her health, move to Bend, and “adventure travel.”

In five years, Wren pictures herself traveling and fulfilling her bucket list, which includes witnessing various animal migration periods.

What she will miss most about Centennial is the children. However, she will “not miss the grading!”