Revere High School will say goodbye to two staff members who will retire after the conclusion of 2020-21 school year on June 10th. 

Anne Riley and Gene Sawan have both spent a large portion of their lives working for Revere. Riley has worked with Revere for 21 years and Sawan has been a Revere teacher for 35 years. 

Riley is an instructional assistant at RHS, but she has also worked at all of the other schools in the Revere Local Schools district. This includes Richfield Elementary School, Bath Elementary School, Revere Middle School, and Revere High School. 

When she retires, Riley plans to spend time in Padre Island, Texas. She also would like to spend some time in Phoenix, Arizona, where some of her family is located. Riley has one daughter, two sons, and four grandchildren. Riley looks forward to being able to spend more time with her family during her retirement. Riley explained her favorite part about her time working for Revere.

“My favorite part is working with a lot of different teachers and gleaning what their skills are and learning from them,” Riley said. 

Riley feels that her retirement from Revere is bittersweet. A lot has changed in Riley’s life during her 21 years working with Revere. 

“I have grown up in these 21 years . . . I’m going to miss it,” Riley said. 

Riley has a lot of memories from her time she has spent working for Revere.

“In the 21 years that I have worked at Revere, so much has happened in my life . . . [It] could not have been done comfortably without the support of the Revere family. I hope to continue my relationships here,” Riley said. 

Sawan has taught several classes throughout his 35 years of teaching including honors chemistry, AP chemistry and physical science. Sawan also is the adviser of the Revere Chess Club. He won an Amazing Teacher award from the Akron Beacon Journal this year to recognize him for his great work in the teaching field. The Akron Beacon Journal honors excellent teachers monthly for their dedication and devotion to teaching. Sawan explained what he wants to do when he retires from teaching. 

“[I want to] spend quality time with my wife and my dogs and maybe do some traveling,” Sawan said. 

Sawan shared some of his and his wife’s traveling plans for the future. 

“We plan to travel a good bit to places like Italy, Vieques, Ireland [and] the continental U.S,” Sawan said. 

Sawan’s favorite part of his time at Revere was working with his students and helping them learn. Sawan spoke on how he feels about his 35 years he spent teaching at Revere. 

“I feel extremely fortunate and blessed to have had this opportunity to work with such great people; both on the staff as well as the students for so many years,” Sawan said. 

Sawan explained some of his favorite memories from working as a Revere teacher. 

“The [memories] I cherish the most are some of the lunches I’ve had with my colleagues and some of the more interesting class discussions that I’ve had with my students,” Sawan said. 

Both Riley and Sawan have contributed a great deal to Revere during their long careers here. The Revere community wishes them both a great retirement and thanks them for all of their hard work and time.