Well, Heather has come full circle. Today is her first day of school - as a teacher. After four years of hard work she qualified to graduate with distinction from her Elementary Education major at Indiana University. She topped off her school work with two different student teaching placements. The first was in one of our county schools. The second one was a bit more exciting and interesting: she went to Australia to complete her student teaching requirements, after spending the better part of three semesters travelling one night a month to Bloomington - about a 2.5 hour drive each way - for classes and workshops dealing with her overseas teaching. (This class is considered a graduate level series of courses, and provided her with 9 hours of graduate credit for successful participation.)

This year the state finally decided to start funding all day kindergaten, starting with partial support and increasing funding over the next several years. It took until late June before the state told the school corporations how much funding they would receive. By the end of July our corporation had decided how they were going to proceed with implementing all day K. They came up with a plan that would put one section in each elementary building. Unfortunately the state's funding would fall way short of what was needed to fund a section of all day K in each of our 11 elementary buildings, but they are allowed to combine funding with their Title 1 funds since the initial children offered all day K will be those most in need of the extra help.

Heather will be teaching two sections of supplemental kindergarten/ all day K, made up of kids educationally at-risk. Her bigger challenge is that the classes are in two different school building so she will have to travel between the two.

Luckily she won't have students until after Labor Day as she has to "build" the two classrooms from scratch. One of them is completely empty, the other is full of desks and material too large for a kindergarten student. Setting up one classroom can be daunting, but she has to set up two.

I mentioned that Heather had come "full circle" at the start of this post. One of the schools she is assigned to is the school where she went to kindergarten. Even better, the room she will have is the same room that she began her school life in 17 years ago. To me, that is just too cool.

Susan and I are proud of what Heather has accomplished and of her choice of teaching as a profession. We know what she will do well and want to congratulate her and wish her well as she heads back to school.

Congratulations Heather, you will do well of that we are sure!! Congratulations to Mom and Dad, also..

Paul and Sue

Congratulations to Heather! Well done!

And three cheers to you and Susan too!

It's nice to see that "sweet little girl" we met several years ago has turned into a well educated and caring adult. You do your parents proud Ms.Heather and your friends are proud of you also.

What a lovely day-brightener. Thank you for sharing Dave. There are no coincidences and Heather's come "home" for reasons we may never understand. Kudos to both of her parents for raising such a successful young lady.



Sandy & Stan

Congratulations Dave, you must be a very proud dad!!!

Best wishes for Heather's success !!!

Way to go, Heather! Lucky kids to have you as their teacher.

Best wishes to you and to your parents. Thanks Dave for sharing the good news.

Judy

Congratulations Heather and best wishes on your new job!

Congratulations Heather!

Job well done- hope all goes well with the new job.

Dennis

Way to go Heather!

Congratulations to ALL the Hannum's. Wow.

Great work Heather.

Dave, how about posting a photo of Heather arriving in Kindergarden back when she was 5? That'll really embarass her!

Then look for the opportunity to catching her in the same pose/place now?

Better give the local newspaper/TV station a call. That's a great human interest story.

From the way Heather was with our girls, especially Maggie, at the Macinaw Reunion, she's a natural. Congrats to all and welcome to the working world Heather!

Mike

Congratulations to Heather as she launches her teaching career.

Congrats to the Hannums as they see their daughter speard her wings.

Well Done!

Congratulations to Heather and to Mom and Dad for supporting her to this new career!

Cogratulations Heather.
Dave, I know you and Susan are very proud.

Great choice of career, Heather. Teachers are special and best wishes to you as you start this new chapter in your life. Congratulations to mom and dad too for their positive influence and support that helped shape who you are today.

Have a great year, Heather.

Bill and Judy