Long-time local teacher retires for good

This summer will be pretty much like any other for Hampton resident Mike Elling, who has spent his life teaching at both Hampton-Dumont Middle School and West Fork High School. With school out for the next few months, he will get to relax, and enjoy some down time without worrying about creating lesson plans or grading tests.

But when this summer is over, that is where the similarities end. When the scorching hot afternoons and weekend barbeques are over for the season, Elling will not gather his things and head back into the class- room at West Fork this fall, where he has taught 9th and 10th grade algebra for the last eight years. He served his last day as a teacher with the district at the end of May, and after a combined 42 years of teaching, is officially retired.

“Every day [teaching] was a challenge, but it was an enjoyment, I enjoyed going to work every day,” Elling said. “Teaching is all about the growth of the students and relationships that you have with them. I know I feel retired, but when it will really hit me is this fall, when I don’t go back to school. I’ll really feel it then.”

Read the full article in the June 22 edition of the papers.

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