Ten thousand students

Teachers Sara Parr and Chris Holt figure they’ve worked with than 10,000 students combined during their tenure as educators.

Both retired last week from Whitefish Middle School. Parr with 31 years in education — all in Whitefish — and Holt with 42, spending all but her first year teaching in Whitefish.

Parr most recently taught sixth grade, but has also taught fifth grade and spent much of her career teaching seventh grade science.

Holt served as physical education and family and consumer science teacher. She’s also coached gymnastics, basketball, volleyball and track.

“It’s really fun to see children of the students you taught before come in now,” Parr says.

“Or the grandchildren of the students you had,” Holt adds with a laugh.

They both say they’ll miss getting to know the students. Parr says working with middle schoolers keeps her young and knowing who the most popular rock star is or how to do the latest dance.

“The kids every year are different every year,” she said.”They make you smile and they frustrate you, but they keep you going.”

Holt agrees, and says in her classroom she also enjoys watching them learn how to cook and sew for themselves, along with a myriad of other life skills they leave with.

“They come in full of enthusiasm and willing to try anything,” she said. “It’s amazing to watch them thrive and blossom.”

“They come in needing to learn to thread a needle and tie a knot,” she adds. “They start knowing nothing and when they leave they’re making quilts and creating their own projects.”

Parr says she’s been touched to hear from former students who say her classroom lessons have impacted them. As a science teacher, she taught a unit on malaria, a parasite that is transmitted to humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes. She would ask students to donate $5 to purchase bed nets that are used as a prevention tool for the disease.

“Later I had one of my students write to me and say that she remembered the symptoms we learned about for malaria and decided to help in Third World countries where it is an issue,” she said. “It’s rewarding when they take a class from you and then go out a do something with their life with it.”

Holt has had similar experiences seeing her former students go onto to work in the culinary or textile careers.

“It’s awesome to be in another city and see a former student listed on the menu as the chef,” she said.

Both say they’ve been touched to work in such a supportive community.

Holt points out that in her classroom there are probably 30 bins of fabric that have all been donated for the students to use.

“We have the best volunteers and the Family Involvement Team is great at providing grants for the teachers when we need things,” she says.

In retirement, both women are planning trips and more time spent with their husbands and children. They’re also looking forward to spending more time hiking Glacier National Park in the fall.

Parr, who runs Winter Woods Dog Sled Tours with her husband, is looking forward to more days spent on the trail and attending dog sled races.

Holt is looking forward to getting out to the Glacier Nordic Center when the snow is running fast — even if that’s on a weekday.

Although they’ll both miss Whitefish Middle School — which they say has become a second home — the students and their colleagues, they feel confident it’s the right time to retire.

“There’s so many young teachers who are full of life and passionate,” Holt said.

“They do go above and beyond and make you feel like you can retire,” adds Parr.