Chester District 139 recognizes retirees, service anniversaries

Chester Unit District 139 kicked off the new school year with a look back ... to the traditional end of the year breakfast that teachers and staff were denied at the finish of the 2019-20 year.

Teachers and staff were recognized for service milestones on Aug. 13 at the high school and Aug. 14 at the grade school.

Years of service awards were presented to 22 employees and three retiring employees were honored.

<b>Retirees</b>

Tammy Cowan, who worked for 28½ years in District 139, was a popular teacher at CGS. She started as a teacher's assistant and in 1997 was promoted to teacher, when she first taught pre-kindergarten and then moved to the Reading Improvement Program. She taught first grade for a year and second grade for a year, and then returned to the Reading Room.

"I thoroughly enjoyed my teaching career at Chester Grade School and will really miss seeing all of the students at CGS," Cowan said. "I will naturally miss all of the wonderful teachers and staff that I saw on a daily basis."

Donna Stueve is a 28-year veteran of the CGS kitchen, who prepared tens of thousands of delicious meals for grade school students. She loved cooking for and serving students on a daily basis and will be sorely missed by both students, teachers and staff.

Annette Draves was with District 139 for 21 years. She began her CGS career in 1999 as a paraprofessional, where she was paired with a CGS student. In 2007-2008 Draves moved to Chester High School where she continued to work as a paraprofessional with the same student that she served at CGS.

In 2008 Draves also began managing the CHS Library and tutoring math.

"I had a very rewarding career," Draves said. "I always believed that if I could reach even one student and make a difference in his or her life that I was accomplishing something pretty great. I will miss the students, teachers and staff at CHS!"

Draves will begin a new journey in retirement - she has enrolled at Southwestern Illinois College to study medical billing and coding.

<b>Employee recognition</b>

Twenty-two employees were recognized for reaching five, 10, 15, 20 and 25 years of service.

Five years: Seven employees were recognized. They are Denise Andrews, Debbie Jany and Jennifer Schroeder at CGS and Jaime Clasen, Ben Hunter, Carolyn Kish and Krista Krieg at CHS.

10 years: Seven employees were recognized: Kim Gross, Kyra Heck, Michelle Kelkhoff and Casey Peters at CGS; and Sara Hammel, Brian McMath and Diann Miles at CHS.

15 years: Four employees, all at Chester Grade School, were recognized: Mary Bohnert, Jennifer Cartwright, Mandy Lochhead and Priscilla Martinez.

20 years: Adrianne Klump and Tonia Sellers, who both teacher at Chester Grade School, have completed 20 years.

25 years: Steve Colonel at Chester High School and Tammy Grah at Chester Grade School were both recognized for having completed 25 years of service to the District 139.