THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 16, 1994 TAG: 9406150193
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STORY BY JOAN C. STANUS
DATELINE: 940616 LENGTH: Long
Students wore bobby socks and saddle shoes, leather jackets and slicked back pompadours. They worried about finding dates for the weekend sock hop, getting good grades and winning football games.
{REST} As the sciences and biology teacher, Ridgwell would lead her students into the woods surrounding the school in search of frogs and insects to dissect in laboratory sessions. On weekends, students and teachers alike would pitch in to paint classrooms or do other repairs around the school.
Only 20 years old, Ridgwell was not that much removed from high school herself. She'd been recruited for the teaching post, and arrived right after graduating from Mary Washington College. Back then, teachers were at a premium.
Before taking the job, the Charlotte County native had never even been to Norfolk. But once she relocated, she stayed - in Norfolk and at Norview.
Later this month, after 41 years of service at the school, Ridgwell will retire as head of Norview's guidance department, a student service that didn't even exist when she started teaching back in 1949.
In fact, she's been with the school longer than the building itself. When Ridgwell came to Norview, the high school was located in the century-old structure that now serves as Norview Middle School.
``She's really a Norview tradition,'' said Irene Mathas, a long-time math teacher at the school. ``She's been here for so many generations of students. She's been the unifying factor in all the transition periods we've gone through with new principals and new programs. There's definitely going to be a void now.''
That void will be mostly felt in the school's guidance department. A strong advocate for the students, Ridgwell was one of the teachers who saw early on that students needed specialists to help them deal with academic and social problems.
In the early '50s, there was no such thing as school guidance counselors in the Norfolk school system. Homeroom teachers, who got to know their students well, were usually the ones who counseled students when problems arose. Additionally, each class of incoming students had a teacher-sponsor who advised student leaders on programs and activities.
As a teaching ``reward,'' Ridgwell was asked to take on a class a few years after arriving at Norview, and, later to counsel the student government association. She so enjoyed working with the students, that when the budding field of student guidance and counseling began to take root in the Norfolk school system in the mid-'50s, Norview's principal at the time encouraged Ridgwell to go back to school and get a master's degree in the field.
She did, graduating in 1956 from the University of Virginia. That same year, she also got married.
By the next fall, however, Ridgwell put her career on hold to start a family. She quit teaching for several years to raise her two daughters. But with teachers desperately needed to handle the influx of Baby Boomers in the school system, Ridgwell was asked to come back.
After several years of substituteteaching, she returned to Norview full time. So eager were administrators to have her back, they even found suitable day care for Ridgwell's daughters.
``Can you imagine that happening today?'' Ridgwell said. ``They were just desperate for teachers. For me, it was an ideal situation.''
After a few years of teaching biology again, she found her way back into counseling. By the early '70s, she was head of the department.
``I just knew I loved working with young people,'' said Ridgwell about her decision to switch from teaching to counseling. ``You felt these were your children; you looked out for them. I always felt like I was there to push for that child that didn't have someone to be their advocate.
``I don't believe you can deal with all the problems. You have to accept you can't change the world. Some of these children have problems that are so overwhelming. But you just try to help as best as you can or to get them that help. You do your little part.''
A warm, outgoing woman, Ridgwell has developed close friendships with many of her students.
The reason, said former student Judy Beecham, is that Ridgwell appeals to students on two levels.
``She was much like a good friend,'' said Beecham, who graduated from Norview in 1957. ``We could relate to her because she was so much fun. But we respected her, too. We though she was so special.''
To many, Ridgewell's greatest influence on students has been to help them deal with problems and tackle their future with thoughtfulness and a clear understanding of their abilities and aspirations.
``She gets these students thinking beyond the moment by presenting possibilities of what they can be,'' said Jane Hosay, a former English teacher at Norview who now serves as specialist for the school system in technical preparation. ``But she's very practical. She looks at what's best for all her students, not just the ones going to college.
``And they just love her. They feel like they can go in and talk to her about anything. She's a person who looks for solutions. If there's a student who doesn't have the money for a cap or gown, she's the one who gets people to contribute money so that it can be taken care of. She's just a thoughtful person.''
Unlike today, child abuse, suicide, drugs, guns and violence were ``almost unheard of in the schools'' when Ridgewell started as a counselor. Instead, students sought help deciding which college to attend or field to pursue after graduation.
All that, however, has changed. As Ridgewell retires, she stressed that now counselors are faced with more complicated issues.
``Today there's much more crisis counseling,'' Ridgewell said. ``Kids grow up faster. They start working so soon and feel it's a necessity because they have to have a car or these other things. It may be a necessity for some. But most of them think school should be fit in between working.
``It's very different today than it was when I started teaching,'' she added. ``Back then very few students left school each day and went to work. The family was much closer to the school and parents were more involved. Now you have to put forth an effort to get them involved.
``I hope the trend is swinging back, though. Some of our new programs are making a difference.
Ridgewell will be content to sit on the sidelines, watching at a distance the educational strides she hopes will come with the 21st century.
For now, she's embracing retirement with the same enthusiasm she did teaching. ``I've enjoyed every year at Norview,'' she said. ``But maybe not every minute of every year. Now that I'm 65, I just figured it was time to retire.''
Her retirement plans call for more travel with her husband, Taylor, and time with her 2-year-old granddaughter, Brittany.
Her presence at Norview, however, will be missed, contend colleagues.
``Tina is very much a part of Norview,'' said Norview's principal, Marjorie Stealey. ``She's a very positive, confident, outgoing person. . . who has a great rapport with students.
``She's much too young and useful to retire.''
by CNB