Sally Sparks will be the commencement speaker for the 2015 Gallatin R-5 High School graduating class. Ms. Sparks teaches algebra II, college algebra, statistics, trigonometry, calculus and an ACT Prep class at GHS.
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This is the second time she has been invited to speak; she was the grad speaker in 2013 when her son Dylan graduated. This year her daughter Rachel will graduate.
“I feel that all of my students are my ‘kids,’ but especially this class because it is my daughter’s class and I have known some of these kids since they were babies,” said Ms. Sparks.
Sally Sparks was born in St. Joseph and raised in Carbondale, Kan. She graduated from high school at Santa Fe Trail. She went to college at Kansas State University, and received her bachelor’s in math/statistics from the University of Nebraska and her master’s in math education from Drake University. She previously taught at Pattonsburg for nine years and Lawson for one year. She has been at Gallatin for seven years.
Her husband Jeff Rogers works for the Department of Corrections. They have three children, Dylan, 20, Rachel, 18, and Betty Truelove, 9.
Sally and Jeff have been married 27 years this year and are very family-orientated. They like to go to Kansas State football and basketball games. During the summer they like to travel. The family reached their goal of seeing the 48 continental United States. They have also been to Puerto Rico and Canada. She and her sister try to go to a different baseball park every year. Her favorite ball parks are the classics: Fenway Park and Wrigley Field.
“When our children are 10 years old they get to choose our vacation destination, and Betty has chosen Walt Disney World and so that is where we will be traveling this summer,” said Ms. Sparks. “Also, we will make a trip to Chicago to drop Rachel off at the University of Chicago.”
She said she was very humbled to be chosen as this year’s graduation speaker. She hopes to still be teaching when her youngest daughter graduates.
“I have always said that I will continue teaching as long as I still love it,” said Ms. Sparks. “Once it becomes a chore, then I will quit. I feel very fortunate that I love my job as much as I do.”