Bus drivers bring students to and from school. Special education professionals work with students who have extra needs. Lunch workers prepare food to keep pupils well nourished, and custodians maintain the tip-top condition of the building. Together with teachers and administrators, these support staff members help provide education to Kimball students enrolled in grades K-12. They are being honored for their efforts during American Education week, Nov. 17-Nov. 21. Melissa Herrington, fifth-grade teacher and member of the American Education Week committee at Kimball Elementary, said, “We want to honor the other people who are working to accomplish educational goals just as much as we are.” Karen Imholte, principal at Kimball Area High school, said American Education week reminds the community what is happening at the schools. “The community remembers what a level of dedication teachers have. It also makes the community think about what a difference teachers are making by promoting success for someone’s future.” She added that there are many facets of education that need to be honored and acknowledged during the week. “There are so many pieces that go into education,” Imholte said. Rooms need to be clean, the phones need to be answered, and paperwork must be completed. Students need to be fed, and some require one-on-one assistance. All of these aspects are an integral part of what goes on in the school building. To honor the support staff and create awareness of American Education Week, various events are planned, and symbols will be displayed throughout the town. Superintendent Scott Thielman held a baked potato and salad bar for the faculty at the high school on Monday and the elementary school on Wednesday. Students in elementary classrooms placed visual reminders around the community to create public awareness of the event. Kindergarten classes made placemats for local restaurants. First-grade students decorated grocery bags, and second-graders made placemats for the senior dining center. The third-grade students created bookmarks for the local library while fourth-graders made posters for local businesses. The fifth-grade class wrote compliments for support staff and decorated bowling sheets. The sixth-graders also wrote compliments and made banners. Finally, PMAC and IMAC students set up displays at local businesses. “These activities are a way that we can continue to bring awareness to public education. Any way that we can get more attention to the community about what we are doing in the school is going to be positive,” Thielman said. Students show their appreciation To honor the support staff in their buildings, fifth-grade students wrote poems about the different workers. On the left-hand side of their paper, they wrote the name of each support staff worker. Each student had one person to honor. Then, they used each letter of the name as the start of a descriptive sentence to show their appreciation of the employee. At the high school, students recognized employees in their homerooms. In Susan Lowe’s classroom, the students chose to make a candy jar for Sharon Lommel, the director of Taher food service. They also drew a poster for her to hang in her office and made popcorn and kool-aid for a celebration. Lowe said that Theresa Kummer, an eighth-grader, designed the special gift for Lommel. She turned a flowerpot upside-down and placed a bowl on-top. The bowl was filled with candy and surprises for the special employee. High school students also wrote on posters which will be displayed for all employees to see. Teachers brought different treat items to share in the staff lounge, and the American Legion celebrated the staff with an after-school tea on Wednesday. “American Education Week is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and honor everything that is going on in our school system,” elementary principal Jon Clark said. “Education requires teachers, support staff, administrators and parents to be involved in education.” Clark concluded by saying the week was really a time to honor education and put an emphasis on furthering education. “[The week] puts a spotlight on education as a whole. What a better way to do this than honoring and supporting your [local] schools?”
