RIMSD #41 2024-2025 Retirees and Years of Service Recognitions

This morning, retirees and years of service staff were recognized at the staff inservice. The district recognized 45 staff members who were honored for working 20 consecutive years or longer with the district, totaling over 1,000 years of experience!

Years of Service:

Administration Center

Stephanie Anson - 20 years

Jamie Brown - 25 years

Alicia Sierra-Sanders - 25 years

Patricia Walls - 25 years

Denkmann

Jeffry Martin - 30 years

Earl Hanson

Kristin Jorgensen - 30 years

Edison

Timothy Carroll - 20 years

Matthew Manweiler - 20 years

Eugene Field

Cynthia Arkebauer - 30 years

Catherine Bohan - 30 years

Angela Brownson - 30 years

Andrew Campbell - 30 years

Margaret Canning - 30 years

Susan Stiles - 30 years

Frances Willard

Elisha Harksen - 20 years

Brynn Pauwels - 25 years

Donna Manning - 20 years

Horace Mann Early Learning Center

Sonia Ahumada - 20 years

Jodi Ketcham - 25 years

Jennifer Mohr - 20 years

Rock Island Academy

Jamie Pilichowski - 20 years

RI Center for Math & Science

Sarah Andrus - 20 years

Jacqueline Franks - 20 years

Tera McCormick-Skinner - 25 years

Ridgewood

Gail Jefferson - 25 years

Michele Russell - 30 years

Rock Island High School

Lori Anderson - 30 years

Connie Hayek - 30 years

Mary Mendelin - 30 years

Christina Dyer - 25 years

Lisa Gooch - 25 years

Benjamin Kirgan - 25 years

Courtney Stone - 25 years

Shawn Trask - 25 years

Nadia Bouchareb - 20 years

Sarah Engstorm - 20 years

Cheryl McClendon - 20 years

Heidi Steger - 20 years

Nicole Regan - 20 years

Thomas Jefferson

Steven Braddy - 20 years

Lorie Carlson - 25 years

Giovanna Davila - 20 years

Christine Macdonald - 30 years

Tiffany Versluis - 20 years

Washington

Jon Verlinden - 30 years

Eight staff members who are retiring at the end of the 2024-2025 school year were recognized at the service. Their combined experience totals 188 years.

Administration Center

Susan Hankins - 24 years

Denkmann

Karen Neder - 25 years

Eugene Field

Cindy Arkebauer - 30 years

Horace Mann

Julie Gray - 33 years

Rock Island High School

Scott Bohlman - 16 years

Jennifer Wendland - 16 years

Thomas Jefferson

Lorie Carlson - 25 years

Margaret Keller - 19 years

Rock Island - Milan School District 2024-2025 Retirees

Show Transcript

my name is Karen neater I am a speech language pathologist and currently I work work at dincman and at Longfellow I started the year out at the Rock Island Academy this year but I've also worked in other schools too I worked at Frances Willard last year and I've worked at Eugene Field so I graduated from Augustana in 1987 and I started out um my career actually in a hospital in Canada and I was there for a while and then I joined the Peace Corps and I was there in southern Africa for a couple of years and then um I started in public schools in Springfield and came here in 2000 so I guess this will be my 25th year in Rock Island I actually went to school in Rock Island 2 so Longfellow is was the school that I went to um for elementary school and I went to Washington and Rocky and I actually taught with my sixth grade teacher here at Longfellow Mrs Johnson Janet Johnson um I think the main thing is how important Community is and how important it is to establish a connection with your children and with the teachers and if you have that Community you can do just about anything and um I think just being flexible is really important as well especially if you're a speech language pathologist and you have to work with all teachers um it's very important to be flexible and also to just take care of your um secretary and your custodian because they are hi Lindsay hi Steve I just want to give a shout out to the speech department and what a great department they are and I couldn't ask to work for or with um better people hi my name is Cindy aribau I've been teaching at Eugene Field and I teach third grade uh this is my 33rd year of teaching 25 years at Eugene Field and I started at but in Rock Island Maryland school district at Grant intensive basic school which was before most of you were born the things that I will be taking away from my teaching career is watching kids understand things taking that love of learning to other areas of their life other things I will take away are the importance of building those relationships with not only students but parents and in my case also our staff um our staff has treated me very kindly as a big family and I'm very very thankful for each and every 1 of them I would like to give a big shout out to to the HR department I have loved working with Patricia and Amanda in the lead Mentor role I would like to give a shout out to the tnl department I have loved being a lead teacher for all of these years and working with all of the teachers new and Veteran and helping them in any way I can I am so very blessed to have worked with each and every 1 of you and a shout out to the Eugene Field family I will miss you very very much um and I hope you all come visit me in Florida uh we have plenty of room and we'd like to see you all um and for everybody um my advice to you is have a better work life balance than what I did so live life be safe and have fun I want to do a special shout out to my partner teacher Angie brownson and 1 form or another we've been together for 33 years and I'm so very thankful for each and every day that you get stuck with me I will probably miss you the most I'm Lori Carlson I work at Thomas Jefferson I'm a para for K through 3 special ed 25 years I've been in the district the whole time I started out at Earl Hansen and then went to Jefferson um about 6 7 years ago the the memories of teaching the kiddos um just seeing how they've developed and throughout the years yes I want to thank Thomas Jefferson um it's a great team I'm glad I had the chance to work with them and I will miss them all hi I'm Peggy Keller and I teach at Thomas Jefferson 1 of the best schools in the district and I have been in education I believe since since 1998 I've been in Rock Island School District 24 plus years I believe I will be taking away from working for the district many friendships with staff that I have met co-workers along with many of the parents of the children that I have taught have become my friends um seeing the students out in the community as adults is always fun a shout out to all of us that teach um we are underappreciated and we do amazing things for our families for our communities um the people I have worked with over the years especially my parents have Been instrumental and ensuring the quality of our classroom remains High um I've Loved teaching it's been a blessing to me and I hope the rest of you continue on in this field

Published March 31, 2025 Print