Kindergarten college students crowd round instructor Louise Bitner for a portrait on the final day of college at Dilworth Elementary in Salt Lake Metropolis on Friday, June 3, 2022. Bitner, 73, is retiring after 51 years of instructing. Spenser Heaps, Deseret Information
Kindergarten instructor Louise Bitner bids farewell to college students on the final day of sophistication at Dilworth Elementary in Salt Lake Metropolis on Friday, June 3, 2022. Bitner, 73, is retiring after 51 years of instructing. Spenser Heaps, Deseret Information
Friday introduced a young farewell for a Utah instructor who spent greater than 50 years within the classroom.
Louise Bitner began instructing kindergarten in 1971. She taught at Rosslyn Heights Elementary for 32 years till the varsity closed down. She spent her final twenty years at Dilworth Elementary in Salt Lake Metropolis.
“I really like the music, the PE, the artwork, studying about authors and studying to the youngsters,” Bitner stated. “I like it all. I grew up in a house the place training was such a precedence.”
Bitner has an vitality that matches the youngsters she has taught for many years. “It's enjoyable. On a regular basis is a brand new journey, and youngsters reply to constructive reward,” Bitner stated.
On Friday, the youngsters gathered round Bitner to want her effectively throughout her retirement. The hugs have been infinite.
“As an incoming kindergartner, I used to be so nervous to go to highschool. I had anxiousness,” Summer season Chatwin stated. “Miss Bitner made me really feel wanted at college. She gave me objective.”
Chatwin was in Bitner’s class in 1983. Now her youngsters attend Dilworth the place Bitner teaches.
“We had lived out of state for some time. A couple of years again I used to be registering a kindergartner and third grader at Dilworth Elementary,” Chatwin stated. “I walked within the doorways and there was Miss Bitner. She instantly, with out skipping a beat, stated ‘Hello Summer season! Are you coming to this college?’ I hadn’t seen her for 20 years. However she remembered me. She invests in individuals. She shares love at each flip.”
Now the previous pupil has grow to be a father or mother who volunteers in Bitner’s classroom.
“She has grow to be a beautiful good friend of mine as an grownup,” Chatwin stated. “It’s one of the superb journeys of a mentor changing into a good friend.”
The road of oldsters to thank Bitner prolonged outdoors Friday. In each alternate, Bitner referenced mother and father, grandparents, present and former college students. She flawlessly remembered each title accurately.
Kindergarten instructor Louise Bitner bids farewell to college students on the final day of sophistication at Dilworth Elementary in Salt Lake Metropolis on Friday, June 3, 2022. Bitner, 73, is retiring after 51 years of instructing.
Spenser Heaps, Deseret Information
“Individuals say, ‘How do you keep in mind?’ I say, ‘How do you neglect?’ When you might have checked out a beautiful little face for 180 days, they grow to be a part of your world,” Bitner stated.
When requested what the largest change to the classroom has been within the final 51 years, Bitner talked about a lift in confidence for some college students and a rise in anxiousness for others. She additionally famous the necessity to focus extra on manners.
“The primary questions I was requested at parent-teacher convention 51 years in the past included, ‘Is my baby respectful to you? Are they well mannered in school? Are they effectively behaved? Are they good to the opposite college students?’ These are questions I not often get requested anymore,” Bitner stated.
Bitner was the winner of a Huntsman Schooling Award in 1998. She has already signed as much as volunteer and substitute at Dilworth subsequent college yr.