Sharon Cordingly: 'No two days are alike'

First grade teacher Sharon Cordingly will be retiring after 37 years in Hot Springs County at the end of the 2015-16 school year.

Cordingly grew up in Minnesota and moved to Hot Springs County after graduating college.

"I graduated college in December and began my first teaching job in January," Cordingly said. "I moved to Wyoming. I met my husband here. He came home from the Navy in December and I came in January. The rest is history."

Cordingly said she will miss the children the most after retiring.

"It's just been fun through the years to do all of the different activities," she said. "No two days are ever alike in first grade."

The best part about teaching is watching a child learn something for the first time, Cordingly said.

"The best part is watching the lights come on when you teach a child to read and do math," she said. "When they finally get it, it's a miracle. Always and forever."

Cordingly said she plans to spend her retirement spending time with her two-year grandson, visiting her dad in Minnesota and gardening.

"I hope to do all of the jobs that I don't seem to get done in the summertime for the past 37 years," she said. "I love to do gardening and that kind of thing. I'm hoping I can do a little better job at that."

Cordingly said she would like to thank the families in Hot Springs County for years of interacting with them. She said it was fun to watch some of her own students grow up and have children of their own.

"I'm grateful," she said. "It's kept me young, I think. I may have to come back to do the hokey pokey or the chicken dance with a bunch of students."