CHS English teacher Kimberly Myers: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my tenure at Colfax High School”

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX  — After teaching English at Colfax High School for 15 years, Kimberly Myers will officially retire at the end of the school year on June 30.

Myers started the girls’ golf team and was the driving force behind the forensics program, said William C. Yingst Jr., Colfax school district administrator, at the annual staff recognition banquet held at Whitetail Golf Course May 30.

Myers has had success at all levels of forensics, and this spring, she had three students attend the state forensics competition in Madison. All three earned perfect scores and gold medals at state, Yingst said.

“I can’t believe this night is finally here. I remember requesting the meeting with Mr. Yingst in January and thinking the end of the school year was a really long way off,” Myers said, taking an opportunity to address the crowd of about 160 current and former staff members of the Colfax school district who were in attendance.

“People kept asking me during the school year, ‘Are you counting down the days?’ And truthfully, I really wasn’t. I have thoroughly enjoyed my tenure at Colfax High School. The district was wonderful to me. I have had a successful and fulfilling career,” she said.

Myers’ teaching career was not her first career, and she says her husband, Gordy, is “one of the greatest husbands in the whole world.”

“I had a great job in the early years of our marriage, but when I told him I had always wanted to be a teacher, he encouraged me to go for it. When others said, ‘Why would you want to go back to school? You’ll be 30 by the time you graduate,” his response was, ‘You’ll be 30 anyway. Do what you want.’ He has been understanding of the weekends and the late nights when I needed to grade papers,” Myers said.

As is the case with many couples, one spouse will retire before the other, and in this instance, Mr. Myers retired first.

And “since he has retired, he has gotten up every morning to make me breakfast and to pack my lunch. The lunches have been fun for me. I have never peeked to see what I was going to get. It’s always a surprise,” Myers said.

One particular lunch was especially surprising.

“He mistook a bag of cat treats for a bag of Gardettos. To this day, my colleagues still talk about my cat food lunch,” Myers said.

“Speaking of colleagues. I have the best. Colfax has supportive and dedicated teachers. I have worked closely with so many on projects and extra curricular activities, so I know first hand the level of professionalism each and every one of you bring, everyday, to everything that you do,” she said.

“So many of you are dear friends, and I am truly going to miss seeing you each and every day. I am going to miss my students tremendously. They are the reason my life has been so blessed and why I have such great stories to tell. They are funny, kind, talented, endearing, challenging and pretty much any other adjective I can think of. The hugs, tears and cards I have received this past week have shown me they are going to miss me too,” Myers said.

Myers also was appreciative of Yingst, John Dachel, high school principal, and Lee Bjurquist, retired district administrator.

All three have always supported her as an educator, Myers said.

“When I went to Mr. Geissler years ago when he was district administrator, and I asked if I could start a College Prep English class, he supported that idea and encouraged me. Today I rank that program as the jewel in my career. It is probably the thing I am most proud of is my College Prep program,” Myers said.

Starting a golf program also was important to Myers.

“I was given the opportunity to start the girls’ golf program. I started with three girls, and I believe Coach Krall had nine girls this year,” she said.

“That’s why I love CHS. When we have an idea about how we can make education better for our students, we are encouraged to pursue that dream,” she said.

Myers says her post-retirement plans include golfing, quilting, traveling, and reading.

“I’m looking forward to reading for pleasure, not reading to grade,” she said.