They definitely want to travel. ….

They definitely want to travel. One of their goals is to take in a baseball game at all of the major league stadiums. Thank you for allowing and trusting her with the privilege of working with the students of this district for the past 36 years. Can’t imagine any other profession that would have been as rewarding as teaching!

Nancy Higgins has worked in education for 24 years as a kitchen helper, early childhood/PreK assistant and most recently as MAES lunchroom assistant. She worked at SES, MASH and MAES. Nancy is already enjoying her retirement. She retired at the end of the 2020-21 school year. She is married to Al and they will be celebrating 43 years of marriage in September. Al is also retired. They have three daughters: Heather, Megan and Jessie. They have three grandsons: Max, Evan and Hank and one on the way. It’s another boy!!! What she liked best were the kids and PreK. What she misses the most are the kids. What she liked the least was having to be the bad guy and also, recess duty in the winter. Her advice to colleagues is to enjoy your work. Her retirement plans are spending time with grandkids and traveling.

Cassandra Jablonsky has been in education for 24 years; 12 of those years in Medford. She worked at MAMS and MASH. She is currently the MASH Choral Director. She is married to Russ and they have been married for 32 years. He is a Financial Advisor for Edward Jones. They have four children. Courtney Kern, who is a Financial Advisor at Edward Jones. She is married to Sam Kern, IT Quality Analyst for Amcor. They have one grandson, Zachary Kern. They reside in Medford. Michael Jablonsky who is a recruiter for Cybercoders. He is married to Rebecca. She is a Private Equity Execution Assistant for Big Path Capital. They reside in Wisconsin Rapids. Mark Jablonsky is a Software Test Engineer for Sentry Insurance and resides in Plover. Jacob Jablonsky is a Software Developer for Sentry Insurance and also resides in Plover. What she likes best about her job is she loves bringing music into students’ lives and into our community. What she will miss the most is the excitement the students show when falling in love with a piece of music. What she likes least is never seeing the outside world. She has no windows. What she will miss the least is the sleepless nights spent worrying about the details of her job. Her advice to colleagues is to be true, be vocal and set your standards high. Her retirement plans are to boat, fish, garden, compose music, walk and spend lots of time with her family. She has taught in six different school districts during her career. She has never felt more support than when she taught at Medford Area Senior High. She feels blessed.

Jackie Kramer-Strick has been in education for 31 years; 24 of those years in Medford. She currently works as a MAMS School Counselor. Jackie’s fiancé of eight years is Brian Cvar. Brian is a carpenter. Jackie has two children. Dain, 22 years old, is attending UWStout for Mechanical Engineering. He will graduate in December of 2022. Dain is still fanatical about golf. Lauryn, 20 years old, is attending UW-Eau Claire for Early Childhood Special Education Unified Major. She will graduate in May of 2025. What Jackie likes most about her job is the variety each school day brings. School days are never the same. She has worked with some really great teachers and developed wonderful friendships. The middle school teachers are all so good about “going with the flow”. What she will miss the most is the pace of the school day. She likes a busy day. She will also miss the people she works with. She can handle most anything. It was mostly good. What she will miss the least are disrespectful students. Her advice to colleagues is to have fun at what you do. If it is boring to you, it will probably be a challenge for the students to complete and retain the information.

Sue Laher has been in education for 36 years in Medford. She currently works as Gr. 6-7 Reading Interventionist/ Special Education Teacher. She is married to Jim. They have been married for 29 years. He is a beef/ dairy farmer. They have three children. Landon, 26, is a 2017 UW-River Falls graduate and is a mechanical test engineer for The Kolder Products Company in St. Paul, Minn. Vanessa, 23, is a 2021 UW-Stout graduate with a degree in business. She works in retail in Eau Claire. Jace, 21, is a 2021 graduate from LaCrosse Western Tech in diesel mechanics/heavy equipment and is working for Peterson and Sons in Medford. What she likes best about her job is she enjoys helping her students to be successful in their classes. She likes listening to their many stories. It is nice to see their excitement with personal accomplishments. What she will miss the most are the students, coworkers and my special education family. What she will miss the least is all the paperwork that came with her job (IEP’s, reports, testing, SLO, PPG, etc..) which kept her after school for hours. Her advice to colleagues are to be flexible, share good ideas with other teachers and offer help to new teachers. Her retirement plans are to travel, spend time with family, visit with long distance friends, complete my unfinished projects........and relax. I now have unlimited weekends.

Albert Leonard III has been in education for 36 years; 31 total years in Med-ford. He worked one year, left for five years and came back for the remainder of his career. He is married to Stacy. She works in the district as a Kindergarten Teacher extraordinaire. They have three children; Andy, Joey and Leah. Andy is married to Cassandra and they have one child, Clarice. What Al likes best about his job is hanging around kids. What he will miss the most is hanging around kids. What he likes the least about his job is school board meetings. What he will miss the least is school board meetings. His advice to colleagues is to be in the business for the right reasons and let your decisions be based upon “What is best for kids.” His retirement plans for a period of time will be doing nothing. Then he will figure out what it is he wants to invest his time in. His time in the job truly feels like it has been the blink of an eye. He is grateful for the opportunity and thankful for the faith that the district and community placed in him to do what is best for kids. To everyone at MAMS, the staff that he has been blessed to work with every day, thank you is not enough. You have blessed him with a work environment that is second to none. You get the special shout out for putting in the work and doing the heavy lifting every day with the kids. All of us hold jobs that make an impact on kids. You have made a conscious decision to make your impact a positive one. None of our jobs are more or less important than others but you all do your very best to make our school a kid focused place to be. Again, thank you for working tirelessly to do the right thing for kids without regard to workload or personal challenges that you have faced. Thank you to the administrative team for accepting and supporting him and for being patient of all his quirks, shortcomings and for politely giggling at all the dumb things that come out of his mouth. Lastly, special mention to the ladies at the D.O. Thank you for doing the behind the scenes work to support our school, our staff and ultimately our kids. Carry on everyone!

Pamela Leader has worked in education for 36 years as the MAES principal’s secretary. She is married to William, who is retired and they have been married for 43 years. They have two daughters: Jenel and Amber. Jenel is married to Kevin and they have three children: Carter, Kaeden and Keaton. Amber is married to Derek and they have two children: Rylie and Xander. What Pam likes best about her job is knowing the families throughout the generations and that they are keeping the family member’s name (i.e. great grandparent/ grandparent) as a first or middle name of their child. That is heartwarming! What she will miss the most is helping everyone. Showing staff how to use Skyward, fun activities they do with staff and students, seeing the children all dress up for picture day, Christmas programs, beach day, etc. What she will miss least is using the NSOE process. She feels disconnected with families. She enjoyed getting to know the new families while giving them a tour of the building. What she will miss the least is dismissal! Advice to colleagues is to implement in your own daily activities the teachings of life that your “kindergarten teacher” taught you. Respect each other, be responsible, keep safe and have FUN! When new parents start looking like they are 12 years old, it’s time to retire. You won’t understand that until the time comes. LOL! Her immediate retirement plan is a DIY caribou hunt north of the Arctic Circle. After that, be with grandkids and travel more. Thanks to everyone for the ride! Sometimes it was on an old bumpy wooden rollercoaster and sometimes it was on a new smooth flying one. Either way, hang on and follow God’s plan!

Jeffrey Neitzel has worked in education for 28 years in custodial and maintenance areas. He currently works as a maintenance worker for the district and is located at MASH. Jeff is married to Patty and they have been married for 33 years. Patty is a head cook at SES. They have two children; Amanda Cynor, 32 years old and Derrick Neitzel, 30 years old. They have two grandchildren, Dazie and Zander Cynor. What Jeff likes best about his job is working with people. What he will miss the most are his coworkers.

Patricia Neitzel has worked in education for 28 years in food service. She worked at MAES and SES. She currently works at SES as head cook. She is married to Jeff, who works in the district and they have been married for 33 years. They have two children Amanda Cynor, 32 years old and Derrick Neitzel, 30 years old. They have two grandchildren, Dazie and Zander Cynor. What Patty likes most about her job is cooking, talking to the children and the staff are all like family. What she will miss the most are the staff and students. Patty’s plans for retirement are to travel a little, fish and help Jeff in the woods or whatever comes along.

Christie Wirz has been in education for 38 years; 35 of those years in the Medford Area Public Schools. She is currently an English Language Arts Teacher at MAMS. She is married to Rich, who is an AV Technician for the district and is also retiring.

Richard Wirz has worked in education for 26 years as an AV Technician for the Medford Area Public Schools. He has worked in all of our buildings. He is married to Christie, who is an ELA Teacher at MAMS and she is also retiring.