It Happened in Crawford County: Teaching, exploring the world go hand-and-hand

Nancy Fischer is a daughter of Frank and Maggie Fischer, and has a brother, Randy, and a sister, Kathy. Nancy started school at Norton Elementary before moving on to Bucyrus Middle School. She remembers how nice it was meeting people and making new friends after the elementary schools merged.

She involved herself in as many activities as possible in high school − sports clubs, music, band, school plays, student council, class officer and yearbook. The experiences set the stage for her decision to go to college to major in education. Nancy graduated from Bucyrus High School in 1979.

She enrolled at The Ohio State University where she majored in education and became a rabid OSU football fan. She tries to go to several games every year, and some of the bowl games. She received a bachelor's degree in education in 1983, and later a master’s degree in education online.

Nancy took her degree to the Department of Defense and organized programs on Air Force bases − first at Rickenbacker and then at McDill AFB at Tampa, Florida. She was sent to bases around the country for various workshops.

She returned to Ohio and began working at Riverside Hospital as a recreational therapist in the psychiatric unit. She planned activities to help patients get out of their shell and to express themselves. It was an enjoyable experience, working for the most part in the adolescent section. The experience helped prepare her for working with students in high school.

Returning home to teach, and getting the travel bug

In 1995, Nancy moved back to Bucyrus because she wanted to teach in a smaller district. Columbus seemed too big, and she already knew what was here and had good experiences in this community. Nancy teaches world history and geography, which helped bring her to the greatest joy of her life − travel.

French teacher Scott Barkhurst allowed Nancy to be a chaperone when he organized school trips. When he retired, she had the experience to plan and take students on trips of her own. Barkhurst continues to organize adult trips and Nancy often travels with him. Between the student trips, Scott’s adult trips, and trips on her own, she has traveled to China, Egypt, South Africa, Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, most of the European countries, Fiji, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, Qatar and Russia.

Some of Nancy’s favorites were hiking the Great Wall of China, snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, riding a camel at the pyramids and an African safari where she saw “the big five” − leopards, elephants, rhino, cape buffalo and lions − while riding in a jeep.

She also enjoyed ziplining in Belize and whitewater rafting and taking surfing lessons in Panama. She feels so lucky to do snorkeling and says it’s so fun to see the whole sea life. It's quiet − just you, the fish and the coral. She also has a scuba diving certification.

This summer Nancy is taking high school students to Japan. It will be her 42nd country. She wants to travel to at least 50 different countries and has trips planned through 2026, including French Polynesia, Antarctica and Iceland.

At school she's the organizer

While teaching, Nancy has organized activities like Academic Challenge. They have participated in the challenges at WBNS-10TV Columbus, WMFD-TV Mansfield and different schools that host competitions. She also organized the junior/senior prom for 20 years. It’s a lot of work with different themes every year. Different times over years she has been the student council adviser, girl’s booster adviser and served on committees and organizations.

Several students who went on trips with her have gone on with careers that involved international travel and living and working in other countries. It is gratifying to keep in touch with many of her former students, sharing their careers, personal events and weddings. Nancy is pleased they want to include her. The best thing is receiving letters and emails years later. It makes the stress of being a teacher all worthwhile.

Nancy plans to retire in 2026 and start exploring the Caribbean islands and put her scuba certification to use. On the local level, she wants to become a better pickleball player.

In closing, she says the best decision of her life was moving back to Bucyrus and best part of teaching career was developing relationships with students.

Go online for more of Mary Fox’s stories and photos on bucyrustelegraphforum.com. If you are interested in sharing a story, write Mary Fox, 931 Marion Road, Bucyrus, OH 44820 or email littlefoxfactory@columbus.rr.com.

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Bucyrus teacher Nancy Fischer loves teaching and exploring the world