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“My favorite thing about Ms. Polodna is when she goes silly,” Nash said of his second-grade teacher Susan Polodna. “She makes silly faces, and the best is when she starts with Z.”

Sand Lake Elementary students are saying goodbye to Polodna, who has taught in the Holmen School District for 37 years. She is retiring at the end of the school year.

Polodna started teaching first- and second-graders at Oak Grove and then moved to what was the “new” elementary, now the Holmen Middle School, and finally to Sand Lake Elementary.

Alexis said she has learned a lot from Polodna. “I learned how to divide, how to learn my cursive (handwriting). I like how she uses voices when she reads. I know how the characters stand out,” Alexis said.

Originally from Prairie du Chien, the soft-spoken Polodna said the biggest change in teaching over the years has been the No Child Left Behind Act. “NCLB changed so much,” she said. “It’s great to try to get the best out of every child. But the expectation that every child will achieve the same thing puts too much pressure on the students.”

Polodna said she’s learned a lot from her students. One thing she wishes people had told her when she started in the field was about volume. “Raising your voice doesn’t make a quieter classroom. I had to learn the quieter I am, the calmer the class.”

Polodna thinks her secret is that she loves to learn. “I love to read and I hope I pass that on to them.”

What she’ll miss, she said, is seeing the children’s faces light up. “Watching little light bulbs go on — that spark in their eyes when they get it,” she said.

She hopes her legacy includes instilling a love of learning in her students. “I hope I’ve left them wanting to learn and how to go about learning. That and good manners and being polite. I’m big into manners,” she said with a laugh.

What would she tell new teachers? “Young people now think of teaching as a job, not a profession. But teaching is not an hourly job where you go home and leave it all behind. Between children, parents and school administrators, you have to work to please everyone. You have to balance it all, make sure everyone’s needs are met.”

Polodna looks forward to retirement to meet her own needs. “The first thing I’m going to do is not get out of bed June 7. I’m just going to be lazy.”

That will probably last all of one day as her plans are a little more detailed than that. “I really want to volunteer. I have a number of projects in mind, but I’ll want to stay around helping kids prepare for school.”

She also wants to travel. She has a brother in Phoenix she wants to visit, a daughter in Boston and a son in the Marines stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC. There are only two states in the country she has not visited, Alaska and Hawaii, that are also included in her retirement plans.

Paying tribute to all the retirees, Polodna said she is going to miss their dedication. “No one can do this job alone. It takes a village to raise a child. Everyone who works here plays a role, from the food service workers and janitors to the teachers and administrators.”

She especially wanted to recognize Sally Seiter, who is also retiring after 22 years with the Holmen School District. “She and I started student teaching together,” Polodna said. “She, too, needs to be honored. So many people, they’ve helped me grow so much.”