Yerxa retires after 40 years as an educator

Forty years ago, Kathy Yerxa followed her passion to become an elementary school teacher and help educate children. Even after four decades in the field, Yerxa is not quite ready to hang up the teaching hat for good, but officially retired from the Ritzville School District at the conclusion of the school year.

She said the interest in education has always been something she wanted to do, and there is not anything she would rather do than work with children.

“I’ve always enjoyed children, I just like how they think, and they’re refreshing,” Yerxa said. “I’ve stayed because the enjoyment of the children and hopefully making a difference in their lives.”

Yerxa started in the elementary education career almost immediately after receiving her degree from Eastern Washington University. Originally from Cashmere, Yerxa was fortunate to find a job in the eastern portion of the state at Grandview.

During her time at Grandview, Yerxa filled a variety of rolls as an elementary school teacher, and also had the opportunity to teach a bilingual course for a year. She said she is always appreciative to have been given a job right out of college, because it helped her remain happy and excited in the same career for many years.

While at Grandview, she was engaged to Jon Kim Yerxa and he had been attending EWU to receive his Master’s degree.

Since he resided in Cheney, Yerxa began looking for a job opening in a school district closer to where he had been attending school.

The search resulted in finding and being hired at Ritzville Grade School, and Yerxa said she could not have found a better location. The couple had spent a lot of time traveling through the area and had stopped in Ritzville multiple times for food or to refuel, and she knew the small town community would be a perfect fit.

Yerxa instantly embraced the job in Ritzville and said the amount of support from administration, staff and community members when arriving in the town played a huge factor in her decision to remain in Ritzville. Her husband also took a position as the county auditor and the Yerxa’s continued to build their life together in Ritzville.

The constant supportive nature of the rural town helped secure Yerxa’s decision to remain in the community for not only herself, but for the betterment of her family. As a teacher within the district, Yerxa showed her support for the local educational system by remaining in Ritzville for her children’s education.

Yerxa and her late husband have two children, Patrick and Megan. Both of the children shared their parents’ passion for education and received Master’s degrees after graduating from Ritzville High School.

“Ritzville is a very supportive community, they support their schools and the school programs,” Yerxa said. “And it’s a clean community to live in.”

Throughout her years as an educator, Yerxa has seen a large variety of changes within the school system and curriculum. One of her favorite changes is having new students each year, and the highlight for her personally, is when she had the opportunity to teach the children of her former students.

“That is fun, I have former students who moved back and are raising their families here and raising their children,” Yerxa said. “It’s always fun to tell them I have had their mommy or daddy in school.”

During her time in the Ritzville School District, Yerxa said the major change in the classroom structure is the incorporation of technology. While Yerxa spent the majority of her time as the first grade teacher, she said it is at that age when students begin learning basic computer lab practices.

Even with the changes in curriculum, Yerxa has been able to adapt and continue to provide the highest education possible to her students. The two things that have helped her keep working as a teacher for 40 years is the children’s constant enthusiasm and witnessing the growth of the children as students.

The most rewarding part of the job is, “To take your children from your very first day in the room, and just seeing the growth, from day one to day 180,” Yerxa said.

The idea she has retired has not fully sunk in yet, as Yerxa said it simply feels like summer vacation. She has already begun making plans for her retirement, with the most exciting adventure being an upcoming trip to Italy.

The remainder of her plans include gardening, reading on the back patio and water aerobics during the summer.

Yerxa said the final decision to retire came at the realization of 40 years being a good benchmark. While she believes she still has a couple more years of teaching left in her, she said it seems now is the best time to retire.

“I’ve been in education a long time, its time to let someone take over the reins,” Yerxa said. “I still enjoy it: I can also go back and volunteer, too. There’s always different options and opportunities.”

Yerxa fully intends on helping at the school on a volunteer basis, as the Ritzville Grade School staff and students have been her family for the past 38 years. It is a love and passion for teaching that will draw her back to the building to assist as needed.

“Number one will be the students, because our students are absolutely wonderful,” Yerxa said as the thing she will miss the most. “The staff is fantastic and we have really great administration. The people; the people are what I’m going to miss the most.”

“We just have a really good staff. They are very kind and caring, and its just a very caring nurturing atmosphere,” Yerxa added. “It was just one big family.”

As Yerxa moves into retirement, she leaves behind some advice for teachers.

“Every day is a new day. There’s nothing really set in stone in education and working with children, there’s good days and there are challenging days, but every day is a new day.”