Pa s sing the torch Article and photos by Amelia Wigton • Headliner News Espy kindergarten teacher retires, replaced by former student. Do you remember your kindergarten teacher? Dalton Cohen does. Cohen always looked up to her kindergarten teacher, Mea Childers, at Espy Elementary. In fact, Cohen said Childers is who inspired her love for school and fueled her own desire to one day become a kindergarten teacher herself. “My grandma was a teacher and my mom. I have three little sisters and that’s all I wanted to do was play teacher. I’m pretty sure they hated it, but I loved it,” she says with a laugh. “I literally told my mom since I was in kindergarten that I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher and I never changed my mind.” Little did Cohen know, not only would that dream come true, but she would take the place of her actual kindergarten teacher, who retired from the Nixa School District at the end of the 2016-17 school year after 23 years. “It’s been a plan that Dalton and I had. I think when she started college, we did the math — she would graduate and I would retire,” Childers says. “We had it all planned, we’re just glad that the administration liked our plan because Dalton is a perfect fi t ... I think it’s been a dream come true for both of us.” “Perfect fi t” is no exaggeration. Childers and Cohen talk like longtime friends — because they are — or even like family. “To this day, she’s still one of my favorite teachers — through high school, college, everything. She made learning fun,” Cohen says. “She’s like my other mom.” Continued on page 6 4 THE NEST NIXA PUBLIC SCHOOLS MAGAZINE Summer 2017
20407AN
To see the actual publication please follow the link above