Graves reflects on first month

Among all the new faces at Ralph Witters Elementary, you may have noticed the woman with her finger on the pulse of the building, new principal, Laurie Graves.

Graves comes to Thermopolis from the Sheridan School District, having grown up in Miles City, Mont. She attended Montana State University, gaining her degree in elementary education. She spent a year in an educational exchange program with the University of Georgia before starting her teaching career.

She has spent 22 years teaching first through fifth grades along with a year at the Wyoming Girl's School, an experience she called, "amazing."

Graves was also an adjunct at Sheridan College, specializing in children's literature and the foundations of education.

Somehow, Graves found time to take 10 years away from teaching in order to raise her son and daughter before they began school as well as enjoying her hobbies; reading, camping, hiking and horses.

She knew she wanted to be a teacher from an early age and it was her first grade teacher she wanted to emulate.

"She was incredible," Graves said. "She was loving, compassionate and I wanted to be like her."

Of course, there is always one teacher in your life you never forget, that one that made you question your direction in life, and for Graves, it was her third grade teacher.

"I knew, even as young as I was, there was a better way to do it," she said, recalling playing with her dolls in the yard, playing teacher and doing it way better than her own teacher was at the time.

Her path in life was solidified in high school when she had the opportunity to gain credits by helping out in an elementary classroom. She said it had a huge impact on her desire to continue toward teaching.

"We have some amazing teachers here," she said. "I am amazed at their willingness to try new things."

Graves has brought in math consultants to create targeted math instruction to take the fear out of math. Reading consultants have come in to target a balanced literacy program.

"Our teachers are very enthusiastic," she said. "They are collaborating and sharing and simply running with it."

Graves was named Wyoming Teacher of the Year in 2002 and in 2012 received the Presidential Excellence Award in Science and Math, garnering her a trip to Washington, D.C. and a meeting with President Obama.

"I have been blessed with a lot of experiences," she said, from her work with the Smithsonian Foundation to her trips to Ecuador where she was able to Skype her classroom from the depths of the jungle.