DES MOINES, Iowa — The school year is wrapping up next month and once it does, some educators are retiring.
"The thing about education is if you love it and it's your calling, it's still going to be hard, but it's going to be worth every minute," said Mary Minard, principal of Moore Elementary.
Love it and it'll be worth every minute - that's the ethos Minard has followed during her storied 35 years in education.
"My goal has always been to look at all students to be able to see all students and to be able to pull out of them what's good, and to be able to say, they can learn, we can figure this out," she said.
The seventh of 10 children, Minard grew up in St. Louis in a family where many of her siblings did not even graduate from high school.
To this day, she remembers the words of a guidance counselor who pushed her to seek more.
"He said to me, 'You know, you can go to college and get an education and teach?' and I honestly had no idea, that had not even been a thought in my mind," Minard said.
After being the first in her family to go to college, she spent 19 years as a kindergarten teacher in Des Moines, then got her master's degree. She went on to serve as principal at both Jefferson and Moore elementary schools, leaving an impact along the way.
"Anyone who's been in the service world for 35 years, they're definitely going to be missed, from their experience to their insight,” said Bettina Bradley, associate principal at Moore Elementary. “All the experiences she's had and all that she's contributed to and the things that she went through in her career can't be replaced."
Her hard work is an inspiration to students and teachers alike.
"To see a leader like Mary who's been doing it for 35 years, she's been doing it wholeheartedly for that long, it really gives you motivation and it helps you stay the course, realizing that you can make a difference when you've seen what she's done with students," said Julie Rietz, a teacher at Jefferson Elementary.
And as Minard retires, she leaves her successors this piece of advice: "Just keep knowing what's good for kids and keep fighting for what's good for kids, because you'll be able to do it for the long haul.”
For Minard, she's loved fighting for kids for the last 35 years, but now, retirement awaits.
Minard says one of her goals in retirement is to volunteer and get back into the schools, rather than running them and to be with kids and help them along their path.