AP Secretaries Donna Crocker and Debra Carrizales are both retiring in December after working more than 20 years in the education system.

“It’s been a journey,” Crocker said. “It’s been a wild journey, but it’s been fun.” 

For Carrizales, her time at Cy Falls began because she had two daughters who went here and she wanted to be able to be on the same schedule.

“A lot of secretaries do that,” Carrizales said. “We are at home moms watching kids and we are like might as well go back to work they’re all in school and we follow their schedule.”

Crocker spent three years at another school as the Director of Instruction’s secretary and then transferred to Cy Falls where she discovered that her and current Principal Rebecca Denton had run in the Houston Marathon the same year.

“I’ve known her that long,” Crocker said. “We didn’t know each other [at the time], but that was something we had in common.”

Principal Rebecca Denton has worked with Donna Crocker for 22 years and Debra Carrizales for 13 years and believed they had a big impact on the school. 

“A lot of times when kids come into the AP office it’s not for good for the most part, but they’re able to calm the kid down, they’re realistic with them, they’re kind, they have been able to just help the APs,” Denton said.

Both are excited about life after retirement and what they get to do when not being at work.

 “[I look forward to] traveling more during the fall when I am usually here in school,” Crocker said. “Best time to travel during the year.”

Like her colleague Crocker, Carrizales is looking forward to retirement for the extra free time that it brings. In fact, Carrizales is retiring because she wants to spend that new free time with her husband.

“They’ve done a lot of different jobs, but the longest I think they’ve served is the APs office,” Denton said. “They were just really good at their jobs.”