'You learn something new every single day': Retiring U-46 educators share wisdom

Everything Nancy Stade needed to know she learned in kindergarten from her former kindergarten teacher, Lorraine Ripzinski.

From kindergarten through retirement, Stade has spent 52 of her 57 years in the classrooms of Elgin Area School District U-46 schools.

"If I didn't pick it up as a kindergartner then, I got it later on in life from Miss Lorraine as a teacher. She was so nurturing, loving," said Stade, of Elgin, a first-grade teacher at Creekside Elementary School in Elgin.

An Elgin High School graduate, Stade began as a student teacher at McKinley Elementary School in Elgin working under Ripzinski, from whom she later took over after Ripzinski retired.

"Miss Lorraine was a legend at McKinley," Stade said. "Stepping into her class and taking over, it was a bit intimidating. I felt like I was at home. I remember the first time I entered my classroom as a teacher there and thinking how wonderful it was to be able to continue my journey at the place where my school career began."

Stade has been teaching in U-46 for 34 years. She is among 108 U-46 employees retiring at the end of this school year.

Her daily interactions with students and their sheer joy and excitement over learning is what she will miss the most, she said.

"They come in so young and enthusiastic. ... The growth that you see in first grade ... it's phenomenal," Stade said. "You are building that foundation. That is where it all starts ... these skills that they can apply to the rest of their lives."

Among this year's retirees is Barbara Toth, 65, of Rolling Meadows, an English Language Learners teacher at Highland Elementary School in Elgin, who has spent 29 years in kindergarten classrooms at various district elementary schools.

She began her career with U-46 in 1985 teaching science at Elgin High School with the bilingual department. Now, her daughter, Maureen, is a dual language math teacher at Elgin High.

A native of Colombia, Toth said bilingual education was a new concept when she started with the district. She said she loves when young students first learn to speak either Spanish or English, making "innocent" mistakes and soaking up a new language.

"I will miss the development ... how they started with zero and they end up like climbing a ladder," she said. "I will miss the innocence of these kids and how they are learning behavior and rules in the classroom."

Joanne Caporale, a special skills paraeducator at Sunnydale Elementary School in Streamwood, is retiring after working in the same classroom for 21 years - her entire U-46 career.

Caporale, of Streamwood, was a parent volunteer at the school years ago when she was offered the opportunity to become a classroom assistant in 1996. She works with kindergarten through third-grade students with learning and developmental disabilities, including Down syndrome and autism.

"You learn something new every single day," Caporale said.

Patience and being nice is key to helping the students learn new tasks, anything from social skills to math, which at times might take a couple of weeks of repetitive reinforcement, she said.

"It's different with every single child," Caporale said. "What wor ked with a child yesterday may not work with that child the next day."

Setting goals for students and positive reinforcement when they accomplish something also go a long way, she said.

"I love what I do and I've loved it from the first day, but it's time to move on," she said. "It's physically and mentally exhausting. It's time to let other people do it, but I will miss the kids."