“The best part about being a teacher is when you are teaching kids and they understand and their eyes light up” –Sidney Sheppard

“On arriving at school I was greeted, along with the others, by a friendly teacher, who throughout the day acquainted us with the mysteries of the printed page. At the end of the day I would return home, there to be greeted by my mother who, in the warmth of the kitchen, would be preparing our evening meal. With my face pressed against the windowpane, I would watch for dad, because his arrival would herald the beginning of a pleasant evening at home.” – Catherine Hill

“To begin with, it will mean that under the careful guidance of my home, church, and my school, I have been exposed to the kind of training that will assist me in becoming a worthwhile citizen of my country.” – Catherine Hill

 “I came back as a teacher [to the new Robert Moton High School].  I taught 8th grade Core and Boys' Physical Education.  Core was an experiment in education that the state of Maryland had entered into around 1947.  Instead of teaching History, English, Arithmetic, and Science separately, you put a group of [subjects] together.  CarrollCounty had an English and Social Studies core.  The core teachers taught English and Social studies.  You took an area of interest, and you talked about that area of interest.  In doing that, you got all of the English that an 8th grader or 7th grader might need to know.  And you got the Social Studies that an 8th grader or 7th grader might need to know.” –Sydney Sheppard

 “Teaching at Robert Moton was one of my most pleasant professional experiences.  It was also the most demanding.  I lived in Baltimore city at the time, and my day started at 7:30 in the morning when I got in my car to get ready to come to Westminster.  I was coaching boys basketball.  During basketball season, I might get home at 2 o’clock in the morning.  At that time, Robert Moton did not play the high schools in Carroll County, so we had to get a schedule by going outside of CarrollCounty.  The nearest school that I played was probably Tubman in Howard county, or Banneker in Baltimore county.  We also played Lincoln in Frederick County, North Street in Hagerstown, Central Consolidated in Bel Air, Havre de Grace Consolidated in Havre de Grace, Carver in Baltimore.” – Sydney Sheppard

“I’ve had a lot of happy moments as a teacher.  When you have a youngster that you are trying to get a point over to, and I’m not talking about basketball, but in English or history, and they don’t understand, and all of a sudden their eyes light up and they understand what you’re talking about, that’s one of the happiest moments you can have as a teacher.”

– Sydney Sheppard

“[Positive memories] Just about everything, really I mean we had such dedicated teachers.”

– Midge Thomas

 “You feel comfortable with your teachers” – Midge Thomas

 “She taught us so many things you know, all of them taught you how to get along, how to do certain things, how to help in the community, this was Robert Moton.” – Midge Thomas

“… I would’ve wanted my children to attend Robert Moton with the teachers I had” -Midge Thomas

“The teachers were dedicated. You had to learn.” – Paula Cook

“To educate the children with nothing and getting them to become promising adults was awesome.” – Paula Cook 

“We had torn up, ripped up books that Ms. Janis brought for us to use from the white school.” – Irene Brown

“It was very frustrating because not only did the teachers have to figure out what was there so did we and we always had to improvise.” (The torn up books) – Irene Brown

 “(In first grade)Ms. Bee Bee Shafley she was the best teacher. Considering white and black she was the best teacher in the county.” ( She was the only teacher with a certification )-Irene Brown

“A dunce cap was used.”-Irene Brown

“We had teachers that taught three or four classes, different subjects,”

– Midge Thomas

 “You just talked [on the ride to school]…and you behaved!  That’s the one good thing about those teachers!”-Midge Thomas