By Amy Mullis
After spending the majority of her life leading her students and her fellow teachers, local math teaching legend Careen Fordham will lead the way for the Dodge County High School (DCHS) Homecoming Parade on Friday, September 27 as the 2019 grand marshal.
DCHS teachers and administrators alike were elated to learn that Fordham had accepted this honor.
“She has positively impacted many students who have crossed the stage to graduate, and she has been a great mentor and role model for her fellow teachers,” said DCHS Principal Dr. Susan Long.
Fordham’s life in Dodge County began when her father’s work brought their family from Montgomery, Alabama, when she was ten years old. After graduating with the DCHS Class of 1963, she earned her bachelor’s degree in math from Berry College and launched into a profession that would impact far more lives than she would ever imagine and likely more than her humbleness would allow her to admit.
After graduating from Berry, life took Fordham on an exciting ride. She taught math in Florida, Washington, Virginia, and Rhode Island and also took her teaching talent over international waters to teach on military bases in Germany, Turkey, Labrador, and Spain.
Fordham honed her craft by earning a master’s degree from Georgia Southwestern University and her specialist’s degree from Columbus State.
By 1988, life brought Fordham back to Eastman, and in 1993 she returned to her alma mater sharing her love of math, learning, and teaching with her tribe at DCHS and impacting the lives of an incalculable number of students.
“Mrs. Fordham was the teacher that everyone wanted to have,” said Susan Underwood, a DCHS math teacher who experienced the joy of working with Fordham. “She was passionate about teaching and was a true advocate for her students.”
But Fordham’s impact on Underwood was not just within the walls of DCHS.
“We developed a lifelong friendship, and I am so grateful that she served as my mentor teacher as I began my career,” Underwood said. “Her advice and guidance have helped mold me into the teacher that I am today!”
Fordham spent 37 years in the classroom. In addition to being the advisor for the yearbook and establishing Math Club, she taught all levels of high school math and for a stint had the opportunity to teach some of those former high school students at the collegiate level at Middle Georgia College.