Retirement – Mrs. Thompson

Mrs. Kim Thompson has been an art teacher at Mohawk for 38 years. Mohawk isn’t like how it used to be when she started- in fact- Mrs. Thompson is the last of the teachers who taught in the three old elementary buildings so when she goes thus ends an era. Not only have the buildings changed but the way the school teaches us has changed from being an entirely paper and pencil environment to every student in the Jr./Sr. High School having their very own laptop; even the grade books are electronic now. When asked how the school has changed her she answered “The kids have taught me many things over the years they have taught me to have patience. . .to challenge myself and . . . to be a better teacher because, its all about the kids.” She is going to miss it here with the kids. Mrs. Thompson will miss teaching fun projects and having fun with the students. As one door closes another door opens and Mrs. Thompson plans to take her free time doing nothing for a while and then she plans to travel with her husband, who is also retiring, to see their kids who have moved to different locations. Mrs. Thompson also said, to any student planning to major in art education, “Art teachers keep their jobs for a long time. . . so make sure you have a back up plan. So if you’re going into art education maybe also have a elementary classroom degree or another degree so you have something you can fall back on.”