CHS business teacher Kara Zutter retires after 30 years of teaching
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — After teaching business education at Colfax High School for 30 years, Kara Zutter retired at the end of the 2018-2019 school year.
Zutter, along with other retirees, including Jim Woodford, band director; Charles Owen, bus driver; Jon Suckow, bus driver; and Darrell Schauer, custodian and maintenance, were honored at the Colfax school district’s staff appreciation banquet May 29 at Whitetail Golf Course.
“This part of the evening is a little bit bitter sweet … Kara, I have known you for most of your thirty years at Colfax. I can say honestly that her students love her, and respect her and admire her,” said William C. Yingst Jr., school superintendent.
“I think she’s seen a few changes in the job and in the technology in her thirty years. In the beginning, you had typewriters? [Yes.] Cell phones? [No.] Computers? [No.] Electricity? [laughter] After having three daughters go through Mrs. Zutter’s program, I can personally attest that she truly does prepare our students for the future,” Yingst said.
Zutter introduced her parents, her children and her grandchildren, who were all in attendance, before embarking her farewell speech.
“In recent days, people have asked me if I have written my farewell speech. My known responses in the classroom are, ‘Am I getting graded on this?’ ‘What am I supposed to write?’ ‘Are there standards for this?’ ‘Is there a rubric to follow?’ But seeing none, I decided it could be my way to recognize all of you, and not me. When I thought about how I would present my thoughts tonight, I have to tell you something you may not know about me is that I like to express my sentiments with poetry. So bear with me as I read my rendition of my farewell speech,” Zutter said.
“I also have preface it with this little story of how I entered a speaking contest when I was twelve years old. The only things I remember about that speech was how my palms were sweating, my knees were shaking, and my speech started with ‘Four score and ten years ago,’” she said.
“Here I am, 43 years later, with my hands sweating and my knees shaking …” Zutter said.
Here is Kara Zutter’s farewell poem:
Four score and thirty years ago,
as a much younger teacher,
I know,
I came knocking on
Colfax High School’s door,
with hopes of being contracted
to teach for the next year or more.
At that time, my sister, Beth,
was teaching music here, too,
and Lee Bjurquist wondered
what damage two sisters
under the same roof would do.
But we managed, and thank you, Lee,
for taking that chance on me.
All it took was one year
for me to know,
there was nowhere else I wanted to go.
The past 30 years
have flown by in a flash,
I reflect what all those years
have meant in the dash.
I was the only new teacher here
in that first year,
surrounded by exceptional mentors,
with nothing to fear:
Sharon, Donna, Toby, Frank,
Andy, Wes, Jim, Tom, Pat, LaRues,
Kathy and Lee to name a few.
With all of them
I quickly learned why
good teachers
love the profession
like they do.
One year later, here came
my dear colleagues and friends,
Connie, Chief Ron, and Mark.
Together on this awesome journey
we did embark.
In the years that followed,
I was blessed with more
new colleagues and friends joining in:
Jennifer, Lisa, Colleen, Amy,
Vicky, Carrie, Kim,
and Pat, Jamie, Pam, Rich, Eric, Tim.
You all make my time here a win-win.
For the more recent high school teachers
who’ve joined our reaching,
Mike, Adam, Matt,
Cory, Trista, Emily, Tiffany
thank you for your energy
and your love for teaching.
To our great administrators:
Bill, John, Polly, Trevor
And school board members
Ken, Jodi, Christie, Kenny,
Todd, Kyle, Andy —
my many thanks to you
for providing me with
all the great opportunities,
my heartfelt appreciation
will always be due.
To our faculty admin pros:
Jan, Peggy, Ashley, Patti,
Sandy, Garrett, Nurse Terri
your presence makes our school thrive,
without your work and fun,
how would we all survive?
To the elementary and middle school teachers
so many to name,
thank you for all you bring every day
to this great education game.
To all the paraprofessionals:
cooks, custodians, bus drivers, support staff,
thank you, too.
To the statement that Colfax schools
all around have the best,
I say, “True.”
God has truly blessed me in so many ways.
Who gets to say that
they have loved being in
the same classroom
for over 10,000 days?
As you see, my sweet family has
joined me here tonight,
knowing I will have
more time for them with these beloved cuties
makes retirement seem right.
Colfax being where we raised our children,
and where their fond school memories reside,
Mike and I will always declare our
“Colfax Vikings Pride.”
The desire to be a teacher
has been in me
since I was five years old.
Every year in elementary,
I was going
to teach the grade I was in,
as the story was told.
In middle school,
the typical teen distractions came about.
Then I got into high school,
and my heart never got out.
In high school,
when I took business classes,
I thought an accountant I should be.
But it was my wise mother who said,
“You could teach high school accounting.”
And from that point on,
to teach business was in me.
Through my 33 years of teaching,
there has always been change,
as we all know,
but one thing that to me
has never changed
is each child’s uniqueness
from head to toe.
Teaching is one of the most
rewarding careers,
in ways only we teachers know.
Together, we become one big family
designed to help children grow.
To all of you who forever will
be my school family
in my heart —
we will always be close,
whether in the building together or apart.
Time flies by and I face this time
and decision to retire,
but my love for education, our school,
and each of you will never expire.
My life at Colfax has brought me
wonderful, lifelong friends
and I find joy knowing
those friendships will never end.
Knowing how easily goodbyes
put me in tears,
I am going to close this
farewell speech with —
“To all of you, CHEERS.”