After a 30-year career with the school district, Kara Lavoie stepped away from Gardner Elementary in Waterloo recently, leaving a legacy of passion for her students and positivity amongst coworkers.

Lavoie has lived in Waterloo for much of her life, attending Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School as well as Gibault Catholic High School.

After high school, she went to the University of Illinois, completing her degree in elementary education at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Lavoie later received her master’s degree and was nationally board certified in 2008 with a renewal in 2018.

As she pursued her teaching education, Lavoie followed in the steps of several family members, though she wasn’t certain about a teaching career from the start.

“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, and then I went into elementary education, and I liked it,” Lavoie said. “My mom was a music teacher and the fourth grade teacher at Waterloo when I was a little kid. I had it in the family.”

Out of college, she worked at Immaculate Conception School in Columbia for eight years before seeing out the rest of her career in Waterloo.

Lavoie started out in the fourth grade, staying there for 16 years before moving from Rogers Elementary to Gardner as a fifth grade teacher.

Lavoie was positive about her time in the district, praising the school leadership which changed a number of times during her tenure.

“It was fantastic. Waterloo was wonderful,” Lavoie said. “Lots of great administrators.”

She also recalled how connected she was to the community in her role as a teacher, getting the opportunity to teach a number of children whose parents she’d gone to school with.

Lavoie also had plenty of good things to say about her coworkers.

“The people I worked with were always wonderful,” Lavoie said. “One of the things that kept me working for as long as I did was the teams that we worked alongside were just fantastic. A lot of really dedicated educators in Waterloo.”

She didn’t recall any particular standout memories from her time in the district beyond how generally positive her career was, though she also couldn’t think of a thing she looked back on negatively.

Even when it came to teaching through the height of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, Lavoie had only good things to say about the district and how they managed to work with teachers through the quarantine process.

She also recalled joining as one of the teachers who helped deliver lunches on district buses while students were out of school.

Regarding her overall interest in teaching over the years, Lavoie said one of the things that kept her going each day was just the uniqueness of each day, though she also remained passionate about her job thanks to a sense of duty.

“The kids needed it,” Lavoie said. “They needed somebody who cared about them, loved them, and I always, for the most part, had very positive experiences with both the parents and the kids.”

Fellow Gardner fifth grade teacher Alicia Longust had plenty of kind things to say about her friend and colleague over the past few years, recalling how they came to get to know each other mainly through faculty meetings as she was working in the fifth grade while Lavoie was still in fourth.

“We have team meetings and discussions on curriculum and how to handle things going on, different events in the school,” Longust said. “Our friendship grew over the years so we eventually did things outside of school as well.”

Longust further spoke about Lavoie’s presence at these meetings as a guiding force over the years.

“She’s been our team lead for years,” Longust said. “She is phenomenal. I always tell her ‘It’ll lose control when you’re gone.’ She keeps everything organized, she keeps us organized, she makes sure that we get things done in a timely manner.”

Longust also heaped high praise for her work as a teacher, emphasizing the passion and energy that she brought to her work right up until the end of her career.

“As a teacher, she’s a very calming person,” Longust said. “As a coworker as well, which is what makes her such a great team lead. She’s wonderful with students. She knows how to reach all different kinds of students where they are, whether that be academically or emotionally.”

She further noted how much Lavoie’s presence will be missed at Gardner as she served as both a friend and colleague to her fellows as well as something of a mentor.

Looking back on her career, Lavoie said the biggest thing she’ll miss is simply getting to see her kids each day. This was, as she explained, one of the biggest reasons why she wavered over the idea of retirement.

She’ll also, of course, miss her team and coworkers, as well as the sense of purpose and activity each day.

Lavoie offered a piece of advice for young teachers, something she has long tried to express to other teachers she’s spoken with.

“When I mentor people, what I normally try to get across is that behaviors are not personal,” Lavoie said. “When a child is not complying with what your expectations are, there’s usually some underlying reason for it, and if you can get to the bottom of what’s going on with them, you can usually get them to cooperate quite easily. Basically, get to know the kids and what makes them tick before you try to get them on board with what you want them to learn and do at school.”

As she enters retirement, Lavoie said she’s looking forward to seeing more of her children and granddaughters, as well as doing some traveling, with a planned trip to Glacier National Park.

She also hopes to finish up a book she started several years ago on top of spending time golfing with her husband.