Sauk Prairie School District retirees, Part II

This is the second in a series of articles about the 23 Sauk Prairie School District 2020 retirees.    Michael (Mike) Carpenter   Michael (Mike) Carpenter taught sixth-grade Computer Exploration at the middle school and Accounting, Business Law, College and Career Readiness, Computer Applications I and II, Desktop Design, Employability Skills/Youth Apprenticeship, Introduction to Business, Personal Finance and Website Design at SPHS. He was the advisor for the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) and the Business and Information Technology department chair. Prior to Sauk Prairie he taught at Jefferson High School for 4.5 years and Baraboo High School for 27 years.  Carpenter said of the SPSD experience, “I really liked the way the school was run from Cliff Thompson as Superintendent being such a warm and welcoming individual to Chad Harnish and Ted Harter’s leadership at the middle and high schools. I will always remember how the staff and students were so great to work with, but the greatest thing was being able to work with Mary Halweg and Sue Ziegler. These two ladies were so much fun, and I was extremely lucky to have worked with them.” “I know it is the canned answer, but it was my students,” Carpenter replied when asked what was the best part of being in education. “They kept me young and of course, drove me crazy. Over the 39 years, I have maintained a lot of friendships with former students. It still amazes me when I am somewhere and I hear someone yell “Carp”, I know when I look around, I will see one of my former students standing there with a smile on their face. It is always great to see how well they are doing in life.”  When asked about challenges in education during his career he replied, “The changes in evaluation of students, testing, and just technology have been some challenges. I started out teaching typing on manual typewriters and now I have to be an expert in Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, all things Google and other software that I didn’t even dream of when I started out in my career. Keeping up with all these changes has really been the biggest challenge I have had to face.” As to teaching during the pandemic, he shared, “Teaching online courses is nothing new to me but it has been a challenge with the younger students. I think we all have learned a lot of how to be more patient with our students in working through this pandemic. I really do miss the face to face contact because it is always easier to read a student’s reactions whether or not they are understanding the concept.”  “My proudest accomplishments teaching in Sauk Prairie is how well the FBLA students did at Regionals, State and National Conferences. It was a very rewarding experience to see how well they did in their competitions. I was surprised they nominated me for the Wisconsin Outstanding Local Advisor which I was awarded this year.” “When I retired from Baraboo, I thought my teaching career was over and I am so glad Mary Halweg talked me into applying for the position here. It has been a great seven years and I am so glad I was chosen to teach at Sauk,” Carpenter stated in his ending comments.   Karen Cody   Karen Cody started working at Tower Rock in 1990. She taught a 5-6 split class her first year and then taught 5th grade at Tower Rock for the rest of her career - a total of 30 years.  Memories of teaching in Sauk Prairie were summarized in this manner by Cody, “I loved the learning environment at Tower Rock. The school’s placement in the beautiful rural setting under a majestic sandstone outcropping was an inspiring sight to see each morning, and the close-knit feeling of family in a kind, caring learning environment was what kept me going each day.”  Cody’s favorite part of being an educator was, “To put it simply, teaching. There is so much else that goes into a teacher’s day, but my favorite time was working with the students, instilling in them a love of math, reading and writing as well as a sense of history and the wonders of science. Along with that, I also love learning new things, which is never-ending!” “One challenge of working in education, for me, was the amount of work that needed to be done outside of the school day. There was never enough time!”, Cody stated emphatically.  Sharing her thoughts on teaching during the pandemics Cody said, “Oh man. Online education has been a learning experience for me at the end of my teaching experience! Sadly, online learning has definitely pointed out many inequities. It’s a lot more difficult for some families than others - for many reasons, most beyond their control. On a positive note, some students were really able to step up and complete the work more independently than they might have at school. I think the district did a great job letting the teachers create the online learning that was best for their students, without overwhelming students or teachers. I felt a lot of support.” “I am most proud of building relationships with students so that they could have the most success possible. Understanding and relating to the students’ lives is so important in guiding them to become independent learners and to nurture students’ social-emotional health,” shared Cody about what she is proud of accomplishing as a teacher.    Mary Hehenberger   Mary Hehenberger started working at Tower Rock Elementary in January of 1980 as a Teaching Assistant and has remained there throughout her 41 years in the Sauk Prairie District. About 20 years ago, she also started working summers with the custodians/cleaning crew cleaning the outlying schools and helping at the other schools in town.  Mary’s memories include, “My husband and sons all went to school at Tower Rock, so it has always felt like a special learning community. I have great memories of the staff I’ve had the privilege to work with over the years, and have made many lasting friendships! I have so many good memories of the students and still see many of them today. We made lots of snow sculptures on the playground over the years! I’ve had the opportunity to work with some former students who have come back to Tower Rock as staff! I also had the pleasure to work with the children of many former students here also, so it’s been a memorable 41 years!” The most enjoyable part of working in the SPSD to Hehenberger is the “friends and the relationships I’ve made from working in the SP School District and of course the kids!” As for challenges, she shared, “There have been some challenges with all the changes that have happened over the years, but that’s all been part of the journey for me!” As for the pandemic times she said, “This has been a crazy way to end my years here. Who would have thought we’d be doing online learning, but our district stepped up and made things work.”  “Being a good team member and always staying positive. Being a good role model for the students and always being willing to learn something new!” Hehenberger sees as her greatest accomplishments. Her final remarks were, “I’m grateful to the administrators, principals, teachers and other staff I’ve been privileged to work with and learn from. I’ve gained valuable friendships! Thank you to all who have helped me along the way!”   Mary Holler   Mary Holler’s first job was in 1989 teaching at Dominican High School in White Fish Bay as a Spanish teacher. The next year she was hired as a teacher in the Eau Claire School District and taught fifth grade for one year. Then, she taught fifth grade in the Neenah School District for three years. My first year teaching in the Sauk Prairie School District was in 1993. I started as a third grade teacher at Grand Avenue and taught there for eight years total. During those eight years I took a break from teaching to raise my children from home. Following this, I received a job offer at Black Hawk Elementary School and taught there for one year as a first grade teacher. I then transitioned to Spruce Street School from 2009-2015 and then to Bridges Elementary from 2015-2020. “I will always remember the amazing group of teachers that I worked with and watching the children grow into kind and caring individuals. In addition, I am thankful for all the friendships I have made along the way with numerous people. Furthermore, I will always remember the students I have had throughout my years as they have brought me so much happiness and joy” are memories Holler will treasure. “My favorite part of working in education is the children and the people that I work with. They truly make teaching a fun and self-fulfilling job,” she shared. “Throughout the years there have been many challenges that have allowed me to grow and strive to be a better teacher. For me, the rise of technology and the extended use of technology in the classroom has been a struggle for me and is something that I continue to improve on,” she stated in response to a question of challenges in education. “This pandemic has had a drastic effect on how we teach and present material to the students. I am so proud of all the teachers for working so hard to create effective and efficient lesson plans for students to continue to grow in all aspects,” Holler explained. Holler remarked, “My most proud accomplishment is watching the children throughout the school years grow into being kind, respectful, and caring individuals who love to learn.” Summarizing her thoughts, Holler shared, “I feel very fortunate to have worked for the Sauk Prairie School District. I want to thank the children, staff, and parents for making this district an amazing place to work.”   Jean Lipke   Jean Lipke has worked in food service in the Sauk Prairie School District for 15 years. The first year she worked as a sub for food service and realized she really enjoyed it! When a server position became available at the high school kitchen, she applied for it, got the job and worked there for four years. “It was so enjoyable as I got to see my daughter in the lunch line!” During this time Jean also filled in at other school kitchens when needed, like Blackhawk and Tower Rock.  Jean then moved to the Spruce Street Elementary kitchen. Lipke worked there for two years as a server/prep person and then was hired as the site supervisor/head cook. She continued working at Spruce Street kitchen until its closure in 2016. In Lipke’s words, “My last four years have been as site supervisor at the Bridges kitchen. How fun it was to be in a new school and a new kitchen with all the latest equipment. I really enjoyed the interaction with the children during lunch times. I would strive to learn their names each year. Their smiles each day were precious. It was always a joy to serve them! The staff at Spruce Street and Bridges were the best! Everyone was always ready to help out as needed. My co-workers and I worked as a team, it made things so much easier!”  “The pandemic was very different to deal with. We wanted to make sure children were still getting food on a daily basis. My boss, Lisa Krayer, did an excellent job leading us as we packed breakfasts and lunches to go and dropped them off at different bus stops using the bus service. The parents picking up the meals were very grateful to be receiving them!” Lipke shared a funny story, “It happened while working at Spruce Street School. I had been heating up broccoli in the oven and forgot to turn on the exhaust fan. Nobody knew where this funky smell was coming from. Alliant Energy came and said we should evacuate so we escorted the children to the Community Center. Later we found out it was the noxious fumes from the broccoli! Oh, my co-workers still bring this up!” Communicating her love, she said, “I have thoroughly enjoyed working for Sauk Prairie schools. Bridges Elementary, what a great school to be retiring from! I would often say to my co-workers ‘Can you believe we’re getting paid for this?’ We worked hard and had fun! I will miss everyone, especially those smiling little faces coming in the lunchroom!”   The third installment focusing on the district’s retirees will feature Robin Miller, Estella Ohlrogge, Karen Peetz Scott Schutt and Diane Sullivan.