While chiefs may know her as an Algebra 2 teacher, who always provided her time to help her students, Mrs. Caughman ends her 41-year teaching career at Santaluces as a woman who travelled the world and spread her knowledge to students along the way.

Mrs. Caughman has been a globetrotter – from educating in Palm Beach County to teaching in Okinawa, Japan. In her 41 years of teaching, Mrs. Caughman visited and taught in the United States, Cuba, Puerto Rico, St. Croix, and Japan.

As a teacher at the Department of Defense, her job was to educate dependents – or children – of the military as they travelled overseas. Since she was single at the time, Mrs. Caughman did not have to pay for her living space while she was on board for her two years on the ship. One of her favorite places to be was the Naha Air Base in Okinawa, Japan.

“It was fun because you could travel,” said Caughman. “The culture around you was different, and you could travel to Thailand and Taiwan and all sorts of places on vacations.”

Mrs. Caughman also taught dependents at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, as well as worked as a substitute teacher in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, and taught in Frederiksted, Saint Croix, and Coquille, Oregon.

The pin on her shirt that has the dwindling numbers before retirement is another reminder that this is her final year as a teacher. Both the district of Palm Beach County and Santaluces have hosted meetings to celebrate the math teacher’s long career.

“I loved [teaching], I totally loved it from the day I started.” said Caughman. “Even today, I still love teaching.”