(Elk Horn) The abrupt end to the academic year left teachers without a chance to give their students a proper goodbye. For retiring teachers it negated any grand sendoff that may have been planned for them.
Lisa Dreier is wrapping up her 34th and final year as an educator. The Exira-EHK Kindergarten-12th Grade TAG Coordinator and Physical Education Teacher admits during the initial school suspension she found it unlikely that her last day with students may have already happened, but that soon became reality.
“On March 15th we received that school wide call stating no school because of the coronavirus. We’d hear heard talk of no school, but I thought that was unbelievable.” When the Governor closed schools through the end of the year her reaction was, “Oh my goodness, I will not see my students or my entire staff because I’m retiring.” She says it really hit her hart with a lot of sadness and tears.
Dreier still remembers her first day in the classroom in the mid-80’s. She feels she accomplished many of the goals she set out to achieve.
“I remember the first kids coming into my classroom and I was so proud of being a teacher. I remember being so nervous. I thought I had so many classes. I was excited and I remember thinking I wanted to make a difference, I wanted the kids to care that I was doing something good I here. I wanted them to be happy and enjoy the time I spent with them.”
While Dreier’s good byes have come virtually, they’ve still come with emotion. “I truly wanted to say face-to-face at the end of the year goodbye with hugging and happy tears. I wanted to say thank you to the students, staff, parents, and community members. I sent my last post by Google classroom telling my elementary students that I was retiring with a picture of me waving good by. I told them how much I enjoyed being their teacher and I shared some happy memories with them.”
Dreier has been heavily involved in coaching and sponsoring extracurricular activities over the years. We’ll talk to her about those roles tomorrow.
