The Herald | The Final Chapter

The Final Chapter

Coached by The Herald staff, student journalists say goodbye to Tenth Street Elementary

Story by Addison Schnarr | Photos by Fernanda Alas, Arden Brames, Rory Heichelbech & Breyanna McAtee | Edited by Breyanna McAtee

The Tenth Street Elementary student journalists that produced this Saturday Feature are, from left, fifth-grade photographers Arden Brames and Fernanda Alas, fourth-grade photographer Rory Heichelbech, fifth-grade writer Addison Schnarr and fifth-grade editor Breyanna McAtee.

We are all going to miss Tenth Street Elementary School.

But we are excited for a change.

Mrs. Jasper will miss all the little things. Fourth-grader Koen Bett is sad about leaving all the memories here. I’m going to miss the school, and seeing it empty will hurt.

Still, we are looking forward to many different things at Jasper Elementary School.

“I’m nervous, I’m excited, I’m sad,” said Mrs. Jasper, a fifth-grade teacher at Tenth Street. “It’s going to be hard to clean out all of these closets and drawers. I have a lot of stuff, in 30 years, in all these closets and drawers. But I’m excited.”

The Tenth Street building was erected in 1960. Next school year, it won’t be filled with cheering and learning kids. They will be at the new Jasper Elementary. Fifth Street Elementary will close after this year, too, and elementary students of all grades will study at JES.

Tenth Street Elementary Principal Taylor poses for a portrait in his office. Mr. Taylor has worked at Tenth Street Elementary School since 1998.

Tears might come to our principal, Mr. Taylor, when he says goodbye. Fourth-grade teacher Mrs. Freyberger is going to miss seeing the trees outside her window blossoming in the spring. Tenth Street will forever have a place in fifth-grader Carter Blome’s heart.

But change is good and exciting. When the students and staff say their final goodbyes, they will leave their familiar community to form a new one. Mr. Taylor is excited for Fifth Street and Tenth Street to come together under one roof.

“I’m looking forward to having our third-, fourth- and fifth-graders act as mentors for the little ones,” Mrs. Kluesner, an instructional assistant at Tenth Street, said of the new bonds that will be formed between the older and younger kids. “I think we can be good role models for them.”

The photos for this story were taken by a group of fourth- and fifth-grade students. I hope these pictures make you feel happy and I hope they make you remember this school in a positive way.

I always will.

Paw prints painted by third-grade teacher Mrs. Smith in the hallway. Every person in the school signed their name.

The playground is made of up of multiple areas. “I think that’s very important because that’s where we made new friends,” fifth-grader Arden Brames said about the playground.

Mrs. Kluesner’s title class gives students extra help in language arts and math.

Left: Mrs. Wolf brushes garlic butter on bread sticks for lunch. | Right: Inspirational messages were written on bananas for lunch by cafeteria staff Mrs. Pfaff, Mrs. Gudorf and Mrs. Seibert.

Third-grader Brooklyn Lawson uses a Chromebook to learn how to type.

The Reading Mountain in the library displays photos of the students with the highest amount of Accelerated Reader points earned from reading books.

Mrs. Krueger shakes hands with her comfort dog, Skye.

Left: A group of photos of classes from 2017-2018 hang on the wall in the office. | Right: Secretaries Jane Begle, right, and Donna Uebelhor work at their desks.

School Resource Officer Jason Knies teaches DARE.

Mrs. Chase helps English Language Learner (ELL) third-grader Briana Orellana.

Fourth-graders Olivia Rice, Hadlie Kippenbrock and Lilyan Drewing work during Mrs. Freyberger's class.

Left: The Buddy Bench. | Right: A sign at the school entrance.

Students play in the gym.

Left: Books about Black History Month on top of the bookshelves in the library. | Right: Code-A-Pillar in the STEAM Lab. STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, art and math.

Fifth-grader Emma Ireland, a student with special needs, walks down the hallway. “We’re thankful for having Emma in our classroom because she’s shown us how to be a better person and help each other,” fifth-grader Fernanda Alas said.

Editor’s Note: During this project, we interviewed many people to see what their feelings and opinions were. Many people said it was going to be a new and exciting adventure, but they said that they would be really sad to leave behind their memories. Even though change is really hard at times, we all know that all the things we go through are the things that make us a BIG family.

— Fifth-grader Breyanna McAtee, Editor

The Herald | Dubois County, Indiana | Saturday, March 14, 2020

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