ABERDEEN, S.D. – Every morning before school starts, Jackson Hagen opens the office door at Holgate Middle School with a special greeting for one staff member: “Good morning, Grandma!”
Jackson’s grandmother, Janet Deuel, is an office assistant at Holgate.
“He usually comes in and sits for about 10 minutes in the morning when he gets here,” Deuel said.
It’s a special moment for both of them.
“It's really nice,” said Jackson, a seventh grader. “I like seeing her every day in the morning.”
Deuel is in her 25th year of working at Holgate. Back when she first started, she never imagined she’d one day get to see her own grandchildren become students at the school.
Now for Jackson, getting to see his grandma is the best part of his school day—and it helped him feel more prepared for middle school.
“It helped quite a bit,” he said. “Because then I had someone there if I needed help.”
His sister, Rylie, a fifth grader at C.C. Lee, is already familiar with Holgate thanks to their grandma. She and Jackson get to help her take tickets for basketball and volleyball games, and they also get to help during conferences and book fairs.
“I enjoy when we just get to come up here and spend time with Grandma,” Rylie said.
Like their grandma, both kids also want to work in a school someday.
“I want to be a teacher because it just seems like fun,” Rylie said.
Jackson said last year, sixth graders completed a questionnaire that told them what their best three jobs would be.
“Mine were elementary teacher, middle school teacher and high school teacher,” he said.
Everybody at school knows that Deuel is Jackson’s grandma—and he said there is one potential downside to that.
“If I do something bad, the teacher will just tell Grandma,” he said. “It's not really Grandma I'm worried about getting in trouble with. It’s more her telling my mom.” (But luckily, they said, he doesn’t get in trouble at school.)
Though Deuel has considered retiring, she knows her granddaughter wants to be able to see her when she gets to middle school, too.
“She’s hoping,” Deuel said. “She said, ‘Grandma, you stayed for Jackson, you’ve got to stay for me.’”
With Grandparents Day this Sunday, Sept. 8, they aren’t sure yet what their plans will be.
“We might talk to our parents and see if they want to take her out for supper,” Jackson said.
But either way, come Monday morning, he’ll be greeting his grandma at school as usual.
Having that connection at school is something many grandparents and grandchildren don't get.
“I figure that’s something the kids are always going to remember,” Deuel said.
About the Aberdeen Public School District
The Aberdeen Public School District provides a comprehensive educational program to approximately 4,200 students in grades K-12, with a mission of empowering all students to succeed in a changing world. Our students receive the knowledge and skills necessary to reach their potential in a global community through high expectations of academic achievement; diverse educational opportunities; and community involvement in a safe, supportive environment. Learn more at aberdeen.k12.sd.us.