When teacher Holly Patterson returned to Liberty High School this week for the first time in a year, the place felt different.
"It feels empty and like the energy is gone from where I am, where I work, my hallway," Patterson said.
As students returned from a yearlong coronavirus shutdown, one classroom sat conspicuously empty. It’s the room where Patterson’s friend and colleague Sarah Sobaski would have been teaching social studies for her seventh year.
Sobaski, who taught the last three years while undergoing treatment for breast cancer, died Feb. 24 at her home in Las Vegas. Her funeral was Sunday, the day before Clark County public high schools reopened.
"We all knew at Liberty through the course of her illness it was taking its toll on her,” Principal Derek Bellow said. “That's a very hard thing to watch, but she was a champion. The last thing she ever wanted to do was miss class.”
Beloved by staff and students, Sobaski, 34, a Las Vegas native, was the kind of teacher students came back to visit after they graduated.
Justice Barnette, a new sophomore who took an online class with Sobaski, said he was looking forward to meeting her in person when school reopened.
"She probably was the only teacher that I felt very comfortable talking to," he said.
But just into the second semester, Sobaski told her students online she received bad news about her health and would be taking a leave of absence.
"She was crying on camera and I think that's when the reality of it hit the kids," said Barnette's mother, Kate.
About two weeks later, a replacement teacher told students Sobaski had passed away and there were counselors available if they needed someone to talk to. They closed their laptops and took the rest of the day off.
"We were all hoping that it would get better and to see that it had taken over was really sad. It hurt to hear," Justice Barnette said.
Even after her health worsened, it was difficult to get Sobaski to give up teaching because she loved her job so much, said her husband, Spiro Siavelis.
"Teaching is what made her last as long as she did," he said.
Patterson later found notes and pictures students made for Sobaski in her classroom. One student drew a picture of a koala bear, Sobaski's favorite animal, holding a heart. The paper was covered with messages of thanks.
“Thank you! Hope you have a wonderful year this year. Had a great time in this class. Love you,” one student wrote.
“Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for us. We all love you!!,” wrote another student.
Sobaski's students knew she had cancer. She lost her hair but continued to teach throughout her treatment, which included chemotherapy, surgery and radiation therapy.
In February 2020, Sobaski was hospitalized and placed in hospice but got dramatically better just before the pandemic hit.
"She came back, personality and all,” said Lauren Linford, another teacher at Liberty. “Over the course of the next several weeks, when I would go and visit, she was just more and more and more herself.”
Linford had worked with Sobaski since 2014, when they became student teachers at Liberty.
They were assigned to Liberty after they met and became friends at UNLV. They went from taking classes and exams together to bonding over the challenges of being new teachers.
"We were going to stay there forever. Our careers would have ended at the exact same time," Linford said.
Linford said she stayed in touch with Sobaski through text messages until late last year. She asked Sobaski if there was anything she could do to help.
“Just what you always do, show love. I'm really scared of this one,” Sobaski replied in one of her texts.
On Monday, Linford and Patterson walked through Sobaski’s empty classroom, reminiscing about their friend.
"There's going to be a big Sarah-sized hole in our hearts," Patterson said.