68 years of early childhood education retiring from PC Elementary

After a combined 68 years of teaching with Perkins County Schools, both Sheila Olson and Connie Mahnken are retiring from teaching.

Mahnken has taught pre-k, special education and preschool in Perkins County over her 32 years, and Olson has been with the school for 36 years teaching K-2 special education, kindergarten, first grade and Title I.

Olson is originally from Perkins County, and grew up in Grant, while Mahnken is originally from Merna, Neb.

The pair met their freshmen year at UNK, which was known as Kearney State at the time they attended. From their second year of college on, they were roommates and best friends, and were even in each other’s weddings.

After college, they spent two years teaching in Ogallala, Olson at the Saint Luke’s Catholic School and Mahnken at Saint Paul’s Lutheran School.

Olson and Mahnken share motivation for originally deciding to teach what they do, which is a general love for children and helping them grow and learn.

“I just love kids and helping them learn,” Olson said. “Seeing that light bulb go off is a great feeling.”

Mahnken worked all ages special ed before earning her Masters in Early Childhood Education 11 years ago.

“Early childhood education is so vital and so necessary for the kids,” Mahnken said.

She felt early childhood education was so important, in fact, that she was the driving force behind Perkins County starting a public preschool program.

“We just saw so many kids coming in that didn’t have an opportunity to go to preschool,” she said. “We just knew that if we had a  public preschool that was available to all children, then every child would have the same opportunity and start at the same level.”

Before the public preschool became available, Mahnken said there were only private preschools which charged to attend, and because not everyone can afford to pay for preschool, she found some kids were starting at a disadvantage.

“We were one of the first public school preschools in the western part of the state just ten years ago,” Mahnken noted. “We had the support of the community and the administration. It was very exciting! I’ve always said that early learning is important, and I went into teaching because I wanted to make a difference and help kids.”

Olson and Mahnken agree what they’ll miss the most in retirement is the children and the relationships they get to form with them and their families over the years.

“You build relationships with them, especially where I have them kindergarten through second grade,” Olson said. “They become your kids.”

Mahnken noted how former students who are now parents have been bringing their children in to preschool, so the relationships she has formed have stretched across generations.

Making the decision to retire was a big decision, Mahnken said, adding how teaching has been her life for a long time, but she just felt it was time.

Olson, who mainly wants to spend more time with her mother at home, told herself she could retire when she could say, “I’m retiring,” without crying.

“I thought, ‘I’m not gonna go to the administration and cry,’ so I would practice saying ‘I’m retiring,’ at home,” Olson admitted.

Once they have finished out the year at PCS, Olson and Mahnken have plenty of plans for how to fill their time in retirement.

“My husband and I have been traveling a little bit in the summertime, but he still works full time,” Mahnken said. 

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