The beginning of June promises bittersweet endings for seniors, relief for juniors, and nervous anticipation for underclassmen, but for an often overlooked group at CMR, teachers, the end of the year can mean the promise of time for relaxation and productivity.

“For June, I don’t do schoolwork. I read books that I want to read, I do the stuff that I want to do and I’ll try to avoid discussions about [school] altogether.”

That is how Holly Ingeman, a sophomore and junior English teacher at CMR, summed up her plans for the beginning of summer. Ingeman will have a mixture of rejuvenation from the nonstop stressors of the school year, and a time to work on her plans for next year and develop her teaching methods.

“I do a combination of things. The Monday and Tuesday after school gets out, I’ll do classes, then I’ll do one in August,” Ingeman said.

The classes are all a part of teaching development that Ingeman and all the other teachers at CMR do during the summer months. To complement these mandatory learning periods, Ingeman also chooses to meet with other teachers to discuss their teaching philosophies.

“I have a teacher friend from Great Falls High and we spend a lot of time talking about what we believe to be true about teaching, what worked well [this year], what we will change [for next year]. This year was the first we read different books, so it’ll be fun to see if I can get her to try some different ones.”

Despite the obvious focus on teaching that the summer brings, Ingeman finds time to do a variety of other things during the warmer months.

“I have a summer job that I’ve had for six or seven years now; it’s at a moving company. I type and file. It’s not super stressful.”

This summer job, a way to make sure she gets out and about during the break, is done in tandem with plenty of recreation.

“It is nice to just sit on your back porch and drink coffee and read a book. I’m looking forward to planting my garden.”

The summer brings productivity, relaxation, and development to Ingeman, but she wants to stress that she gets the majority of her work done during the school year, and summer is her time.

“People always get on me ‘Well you have the summer off,’ but I always make the joke ‘No, I just do all of my work in nine and a half months, so now I have to take a little break.’”