By Tom Morphet

Suzanne Newton will give the commencement address at Haines High School graduation May 24.

“I think she’s funny and a really good person,” said student body president Autumn Gross. “She’s been with us since third grade and she knows us really well. You can never expect what she’ll say or do.”

Newton said she enjoys connecting with students. “They know they can say and do anything around me and I don’t judge them. I listen to what they say and think. Their opinions mean a lot to me.”

Newton arrived here in 2006 with about 40 years of experience in business, most recently teaching businesses about export and import laws.

She volunteered in local schools, getting to know members of the graduating class when they were in third grade and she was helping with a reading intervention program. Two years later, she was hired as a “paraprofessional.”

Newton found she enjoyed working with special education students. “That’s what I found I really liked and what I excel at, so that’s where I stayed.” She recently received her special needs paraprofessional degree. She’s the only staffer at Haines School to hold such a degree.

“I knew what I wanted to do and the way I wanted to do it, but that wasn’t enough. I needed tools,” Newton said.

Newton said serving as speaker is a “tremendous honor.” A longtime volunteer for Big Brothers Big Sisters, she said she has subscribed to its motto of “touching the life of a single child.” The idea that she touched the lives of an entire class of students is especially encouraging, she said.

Newton is currently completing requirements for certification as an autism specialist.

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