
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 15, 1995                   TAG: 9506160008
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: S-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: NANCY GLEINER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RETIRING CAVE SPRING TEACHER WON'T MISS YEARBOOK DEADLINES

When Sandra Ferguson fishes for bass on Smith Mountain Lake this summer and into the fall, it's doubtful she'll wear a watch. As a teacher and publications adviser at Cave Spring High School who is retiring after 17 years, Ferguson always has had to be dutifully conscious of time.

``I certainly won't miss the deadlines,'' she said, ``but I will miss my kids.''

With her two grown children living out of state, the yearbook and newspaper staffs have become more than just students to her. ``I've laughed with them and cried with them,'' she said. ``They're very special to me. ''

The door swings both ways. ```Ferg' is one of the most honest teachers I've ever had,'' said Stephanie Ogilvie, this year's features editor who just graduated from Cave Spring. ``She treats us like people, and that's something we'll always remember.''

Mixed into the personal relationships "Ferg" has with her students are the high standards she sets for them in their publications work. They've paid off. She will take with her a shelf full of award-winning yearbooks and newspapers.

At 16,``The Accolade'' has the longest winning streak in the state for first-place (trophy class) awards from the Virginia High School League, as well as its best-in-state award for two years.

In addition, the annuals have won four Columbia Scholastic Press Association silver crown awards, for books judged to be in the top 3 percent, and one gold crown, given to the top 1 percent.

The Knight Letter, the school's newspaper has won first-place honors from the National Scholastic Press Association the past two years. Ferguson has been its adviser for three years.

``I tell the students they have to take pride in what they do, first,'' she said. ``Put out something you can be really proud of and do it for the students. That's what it's really about. Any award is a bonus.''

Yearbook classes were not credit courses when Ferguson took the helm. She believed the long hours the students spent and the work they put into the books were worthy of credit. In 1986, after three years of hard work, she succeeded in getting the courses accredited.

The yearbooks take 15 months to produce, so work is begun on the next year's before the current book is completed. Ferguson already has started on the 1996 yearbook, even though her successor will be overseeing its completion.

She never expects more of her students than she is willing to give. ``She teaches by example,'' said Carrie Anderson, editor-in-chief of this year's ``Accolade.'' ``Her long hours and hard work encourage us and teach us to be more responsible.''

When Ferguson received the coveted Gold Key - ``sort of the Phi Beta Kappa key of journalism teachers'' - this spring from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, she became one of only 762 recipients to have been so honored since the award's inception in 1929. The honor is given for ``outstanding devotion to the cause of the school press ... service above and beyond delegated duty ... and leadership in the field of education."

``I thought it was really cool to have one along with Walter Cronkite,'' she said.

Although she felt honored and grateful, it was not her greatest thrill. ``When those yearbooks come in and the kids unpack them and I see their faces ...'' she said. ``It's hard to explain to fellow teachers why 12-hour days and the frustrations of deadlines are worth it.

``There's something about seeing what you've done in print - it's got that permanence to it. You think, we've done something that's here to stay.''

One first year staffer, a bouncy junior, stopped in mid-bounce and said, ``You know, they told me I would feel like this, but I didn't believe them.''

Over the years, Ferguson has seen what the advent of desktop publishing has brought to the school's publications. Sadly, she's also seen an increase in students with problems. ``Somewhere along the line, someone has to take an interest in them, someone has to care about them. I feel that's part of our job.

``When you feel you've had an impact on several hundred students over the years, all the memories of problems just melt away.''

She'll hold those students dear as she fishes, sews, serves as a yearbook judge, visits her grandchildren and just sits down and reads books.

Her impact was summed up well by a student who placed this tip as No. 1 on a student list of ``yearbook survival hints'': ``Listen to Ferg. She is not just another teacher.''

by CNB