Teacher gives students personalized gifts in her final goodbye
By Laura Terrell
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ANKENY, Iowa (KCCI) — A Westwood Elementary School teacher is gifting her students a handmade goodbye ahead of her retirement after 35 years.
Ahead of her final lesson on Friday, second-grade teacher Kim Rohlf gifted all of her students homemade quilts as a way to remember their time together and remind each student they were special.
“I love teaching and I love quilting, so it gives a little to share my love with them as they leave and I end my chapter of teaching,” she said.
Some were themed after holidays, students’ birthdays, or even special interests like dinosaurs or sports.
“Every quilt is made based on our personalities,” second grader Gabrielle said. “She would add special details about us and she would make sure that it is very nice.”
In addition to making these quilts and personalizing them to each of her students, she also hand-wrote notes to each of them.
That’s when she realized it was going to be much harder to say goodbye than she thought.
“It’s very heartwarming, it makes this harder than I thought it was going to be, but I’m excited to start that new chapter in my life,” Rohlf said. “I thought it could just be at the end of the year and walk out the door. They’re making it a little bit harder than that.”
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