By Caleb “Drip” Noel

It doesn’t take a math teacher to know that Ms.  Elena Safier has been a Murrowite for quite some time.

Ms. Safier, who was a Murrow student and now a math teacher, will be retiring after a  26 year career. 

Image: Ms. Safier in her classroom.

“This is a graduation of sorts as well,”  said Ms. Safier, who graduated from Murrow in 1984. “So retiring is like graduating as well and it’s not really an ending, it’s a change and now we look forward to what’s gonna be the next step and what’s new. So there’s sadness and excitement,  anxiousness and fear. You know what’s out there but you have a good foundation. It’s not an ending and it’s looking like a new beginning.”

Ms. Safier’s journey to becoming a teacher was not straightforward. After working in the banking industry, she realized it wasn’t satisfying. She recalled her childhood dream of teaching, where she would pretend to be a teacher with her stuffed animals and a little blackboard.

 This passion led her to switch careers at 25, returning to school to pursue her dream of educating others. Over her 26-year career, Ms. Safier has made a significant impact on her students, many of whom she has inspired and guided through their education.

“I was not exactly the best of all students,” she said. “I was a little bit of a troublemaker for a little while so I did get in trouble; I mean I managed to graduate with very good grades and so forth but there was a period of time where I got into a little bit of trouble and at the time the principal Mr. (Saul) Bruckner thought it might be best if I transferred out of Murrow.”

 “I just didn’t know if this was the best fit for me any longer, and the Dean at the time was Mr. (James) McHugh and he saw something in me that probably nobody else did and he convinced Mr. Bruckner to give me another chance because he felt that whatever was going on he would work with me. They gave me another chance and not only did I go back to school but I ended up graduating with very good grades and honors; Mr. Bruckner, actually at graduation, gave me a special award for the most improved.”

Ms. Safier said she  believes that you shouldn’t give up once you make a mistake as there’s always a turn around and there’s a chance for you to not make that mistake again once you learn from it. 

“Failure is not horrible,” Ms. Safier said. “It’s only horrible if you don’t learn from your failures. It makes you a better person when you can take that failure and turn it into something good.”

Ms. Safier said that she loved Murrow, and in fact her husband, Josh (1984), and her three children Nicholas (2014) , Gabriel (2020)  and Kira (2020) all attended the Midwood school.
Overall, Ms. Safier said  she will miss the students, her interaction with  her colleagues and her job.

But now is a time to relax.

 “I am retiring but I do plan on coming back in and sub so this way I still have the connection with my colleagues and the relationships I’ve made here with the adults,” Ms. Safier said, “but also the students because in spite of everything I still have, connections with some of them and I like watching them, even though  I don’t like some of the stuff that goes on in the hallways and so forth. But I still love being around the children so I will come back, but I’m gonna have the freedom to be able to do other stuff.”