06/12/2026
Today marked the last day of school, but for two very special educators, it also marked the end of an extraordinary career.
After decades of service, Mrs. Alessia O’Dell and Mr. Warren Harvey closed the doors to their classrooms for the final time as teachers.
And somehow, that sentence feels far too small for what they have meant to generations of students.
For years, Chef O’Dell has done far more than teach Culinary Arts. She taught confidence. She taught professionalism. She taught students how to care deeply about doing things well and how to take pride in creating something with their own hands. Hundreds of students learned recipes in her kitchen, but the lessons they carried with them went far beyond food. Patience. Attention to detail. Teamwork. Perseverance. The belief that they were capable of more than they imagined.
Mr. Harvey’s impact is equally difficult to capture in words. Through Carpentry, Masonry, and General Construction, he helped students build far more than structures. He helped build futures. He saw potential in young people before they saw it in themselves. He provided steady guidance, high expectations, and a level of patience and kindness that earned the respect of every student who walked through his shop doors. Many of the homes, businesses, and communities around us quite literally bear the mark of work completed by students he taught and inspired.
The true measure of a teacher’s career is not found in years of service, awards, or accomplishments. It is found in people.
It is found in the student who discovered a passion and turned it into a career.
It is found in the graduate who learned to believe in themselves because a teacher believed in them first.
It is found in the countless adults across our community who still hear the voices of these teachers in their heads years later, reminding them to do the job right, to work hard, to take pride in their craft, and to keep going when things get difficult.
On behalf of the students, families, colleagues, and community members whose lives have been changed by your work, thank you.
Thank you for every lesson, every opportunity, every word of encouragement, every second chance, and every life you helped shape.
Most of all, thank you for dedicating your careers to helping young people discover who they could become.
The Career & Technology Academy will never be quite the same without you.
Congratulations, Chef O’Dell and Mr. Harvey. As you walk out of these classrooms for the final time, know that the work you devoted your lives to mattered. It mattered to the students who found their path because of you, to the families whose futures were changed because of you, and to the colleagues who were fortunate enough to work alongside you.
What an incredible legacy to leave behind. ❤️
