By Connor Latlip

The Jag

Special education teacher Shelly Kimsey’s teaching career is coming to an end after 28-years teaching in the educational field.  

Kimsey started her teaching career at Raytown South High School, then she moved to Raytown High School. After she taught at the Raytown school district, she got a teaching job at the freshman center. She taught there for about eighteen years, and then she came to South when the freshman wing was built.  

Kimsey went to the University of Central Missouri, and she got her undergraduate and masters degrees in special education. 

The reason why Kimsey is retiring is because she thinks it’s time for her to retire. She says that she needs to help her parents, and she also said that there might be something deferent in the future too.  

Kimsey has had a lot of memories here at South, but her best memories are the ones that she gets to share with her students.  

“When I see kids send letters to me, telling me how successful they are or kids doing good in sports. I mean, just anything that the kids feel success or that they are happy to be here; some of my students don’t like school because they are afraid to fail, so when they do something that makes them feel good, and if they’re happy, I like to see that,” Kimsey said.  

Kimsey is going to miss South. She is going to miss talking to her students, talking to the staff, and she will miss her teacher friends that she has formed good relationships with over the years.  

“I love just seeing the kids. I love working with Mr. Blosser (English teacher), he’s been a great support, and the young teachers are so helpful, and if it wasn’t for them helping me, we wouldn’t be that successful,” Kimsey said.  

What made Kimsey’s time here at South ao special was that she got to be with the teacher that she calls ‘friends’ and she considers the South staff as a family.  

“It’s like being in a family. I consider Mr. Blosser as a brother, and the people that I work with every single day as a family, and they’re like my support system. Also, the kids are family as well, so their successes are my successes, and their failures are my failures,” said Kimsey.