Mr. Wimberley is Leaving SOCES, but Not Our Hearts

By: David Nalbandyan '21

Just a small town girl

Livin' in a lonely world

She took the midnight train goin' anywhere

Just a city boy

Born and raised in south Detroit

He took the midnight train goin' anywhere…

If you’ve ever taken precalculus or calculus at Sherman Oaks CES, you know exactly what these words mean. The legendary teacher, Mr. Wimberley, would play this song before every test or quiz to get the class pumped up and ready to succeed. He began teaching in the 80s and after an incredible 30+ years as a teacher, Mr. Wimberly has sadly decided to retire and live his life without the troubles of being in a classroom full of rowdy teens every day.

Without Mr. Wimberley on campus anymore, it is going to feel like a piece of the school is missing. He has been a part of the SOCES community for so long that his retirement will have an affect on every student, staff, and teacher. Seeing Mr. Wimberley jogging from the other side of campus to get to his classroom is a joy that students will no longer be able to experience. This was something that he was so good at; bringing a smile to students' faces.

Patrick Bagdasryan, a SOCES senior who had Mr. Wimberley for precalculus his junior year, had this to say: “It’s crazy to think that Mr. Wimberly is retiring so suddenly, I swear I thought he was gonna be teaching for at least another 10 years. The man is filled with so much happiness and chaotic energy, you never knew what you were walking into when you took a seat in his class.”

The chaos that he brought to the classroom every day was what made every single class enjoyable. Anytime he made the slightest mistake on his work, he would jokingly hit himself in the head and the whole class would erupt with laughter. I can not recall how many times a neighboring teacher made a complaint about the banging on the walls or the amount of noise we’d be making.

Although his retirement was very sudden, it is not too much of a surprise that he decided to do it now, given the state of the world. He initially wanted to teach another two years and retire at 61 years old, however, he decided to retire a little earlier in order to take care of his parents.

“I need to take more time to help them as they are getting older and require more assistance,” is what Mr. Wimberley had to say.

Online teaching was very different from his regular style, so it seemed like the right time. Mr. Wimberley was never a man that changed his life according to technology. In fact, this is something that you’d notice as soon as you stepped into the class. Being a teacher of 30+ years, he stuck to his roots using only a black board and chalk to teach.

Andrew Vinterfeld, a SOCES senior who also had Mr. Wimberley for precalculus his junior year said, “I mean I kind of saw it coming to be honest. He would struggle with Schoology when we had him, I wasn’t sure how he was gonna get used to this new online learning that’s required. Even though it sucks to see, I hope he’ll enjoy his retirement because he definitely deserves it.”

On behalf of all of SOCES, I can wholeheartedly say that he will be missed, by current and past members of the community. In honor of Mr. Wimberley, I hope we will all never stop believin’.