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Language instructor retires

By Michelle Hamilton
IV Leader Staff, May 5, 2005

    After 17 years of teaching both Spanish and French in the foreign language department at IVCC, Lou Caldwell is retiring
    “Teaching students the value of a foreign language was my favorite part about teaching,” Caldwell said.
    Caldwell has been teaching since 1964 at many different schools throughout the country, and even in France. 
    For two years, he taught at the University of Minnesota. He put in 10 years of teaching at both Green River High School in Wyoming and West Wyoming University.
His list of colleges attended includes: St. Mary’s University, the University of Iowa, and the University of St. Cloud.
    The long resume of experience allowed Caldwell to both teach and attend school in Montpellier, France.
    Caldwell said, “learning new languages and cultures gives you an entirely different perspective on the rest of the world. It gives you the chance to see different ways of thinking and different ways of doing the same things we do here.
    “Long hours and years of teaching is a big pay off,” says Caldwell. “I had a former student, who had no interest in learning Spanish, e-mail me and tell me he has a degree in teaching and is now a Spanish teacher.”
    After 41 years in the teaching profession, Caldwell is taking a long deserved break and has plans to do so in a way he sees fit.
    He said he will “find a place to live and go fishing.”