After 17 years, Rick Abel retires from Maricopa schools

The Maricopa Unified School District is losing a tremendous resource as the school year winds down.

Teacher Rick Abel, who has spent 45 years in public education and the last 17 of those at MUSD schools, is retiring. He served as a principal at all three school levels – Santa Rosa Elementary, Maricopa Wells Middle School and Maricopa High School – among the many other roles he has held in and outside the classroom.

He finished his career as he started it, in the classroom, teaching social studies at the high school for the past four years. He also has been heavily involved in athletics throughout the district.

Abel said his path was set early on due to the influence of the educators in his life.

“I chose to be a teacher, I believe, when I was 15 or 16 years old,” Abel recalled. “I had very good teachers and coaches – one teacher in particular, who taught U.S. history and was a basketball coach. They did a great job; they seemed like they were having fun with their work. I was very interested in the subjects, and I also know he had June, July and August off.”

He parlayed that enthusiasm for education into a Bachelor of Arts degree in education with an emphasis in history and political science, and later a master’s degree in public administration. He used those tools to build a diverse career, serving many different roles and influencing the city’s youth in different ways.

“I have spent most of my life at school,” he wrote in his MUSD profile. “I have served as a teacher, principal, athletic director and coach in four states, seven school districts, and 11 schools in the western United States…Most importantly, I am the proud father of a MHS graduate.”

But Abel’s personal skills set him apart according to many in the community who worked with him or had children taught by him.

“Rick is a great guy,” Vice Mayor Vincent Manfredi said. “All three of my daughters had him as a teacher or principal at Maricopa Wells or for his time at MHS, and he was fantastic. They were lucky to have been taught by someone like Rick.”

Kristina Petrides Begonja, a kindergarten teacher at Butterfield Elementary School, wrote on Facebook about how Mr. Abel helped get her career started.

“Sixteen years ago, while I was still living in New York, this man interviewed me for a resource room position, which later turned out to be a preschool position,” Begonja said. “He’s retiring now and the impact that he made on me set such a foundation for my career. Thank you, Mr. Abel!”

Abel also reaped some rewards of his own from his work. The 17-year Maricopa resident said one of the most rewarding parts of his tenure in city schools was all the relationships it afforded.

“The important thing is the people I’ve met,” he said. “I’ve learned so much from so many people. But I’m really proud of proud of the fact that they are caring about kids, they want them to be safe, to learn, and to have fun.”

And now it is time for Abel to have some fun, and he knows just how he’ll do it, saying he will spend time playing golf at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Course, or working as a player assistant, which allows him to play even more golf.

He also said that, in summer, he will visit family in Montana and Idaho, where “there are mountains with trees on them and when you go over a bridge there’s going to be some water there.”

Now, as he rides off into the sunset, Abel summed up his years in the classroom this way:

“I believe that education is the foundation for success,” Abel said. “As an educator I play a small role in providing students with the opportunity to grow and achieve their individual goals. I have the privilege of working with families, educational professionals and our community as we all work to provide the foundation for each student to succeed. As I have told my daughter time and time again, my expectations are that each of us needs to work hard, be good and have a little fun.

“My 45 years of teaching have been a joy.”