Thank you, Mrs. Wiggins : FAYETTEVILLE CREATIVE SCHOOL TO HONOR EDUCATIONAL STALWART
Posted on Sunday, May 18, 2008
“ A teacher affects eternity. He can never tell where his influence stops. ”
— Henry Brooks Adams Or she. If Mary Jane Wiggins had her way, today would be like any other Sunday, one possibly filled with quilting, reading or going for a walk. But it’s not. Far from it. The people whose lives she has touched during the 25 years she has spent at the Fayetteville Creative School have kept her from any sort of normal routine. At 2 p. m., those folks — co-workers, parents, past students, friends — will share their memories about the woman who has become as synonymous with the school’s name as the institution itself, which she has routinely shown up at by 6 a. m. since she started. Following a quarter of a decade of service to the school, the 67-year-old Wiggins will be retiring as director.
“ I tried to get them not to have the reception because things like that, you can put me in a classroom for 36 straight hours and I’m happy as a lark, ” Wiggins said. “ Things like that are not my cup of tea. The limelight is not it. ”
“ After it’s over, it will have been wonderful. I’m a pleaser. I’d rather do [something ] for someone else then have this attention. I’ll recognize the parents. The children will have changed so much. ”
And those parents, and potentially some of the children who now are adorned with clothes and complications of adolescents and 20-somethings, will have something to say. It is estimated that at least 1, 000 students have passed through the school’s doors during her tenure. “ It gives all these other people that have something to say to her that want to honor her in some way, it gives them a chance to do it, ” said Kirstin Armstrong, who has taught at the school for 14 years and whose two sons are graduates of the school.
Opportunity knocks
The year was 1982, sometime
in August. Wiggins had
begun to get comfortable in her new surroundings after moving from Houston earlier in the year with her husband, Joe, who had accepted a job teaching computer science at the University of Arkansas. Equipped with a master’s degree in early childhood education, Wiggins sought employment. After cold-calling the Fayetteville Creative School, which at the time was housed at First United Presbyterian Church, she was informed that it only had two teachers, both of whom were enjoying lengthy stays: Marilyn Anderson and Ann Justice.
Five days later, one of the parents who served as the coordinator for the school’s 4-year-old program, Kay Magness, showed up at her door with a lack of breath and an important message. “‘ You said you live on Eastwood [Drive ]. I’ve been going up and down Eastwood. Marilyn Anderson broke her hip and we do need a teacher, ’” Wiggins recalled her saying. “ That’s all she could remember. She didn’t have a phone number because [Magness ] didn’t need me for the job. ” Wiggins started the next month and was quickly appointed director a year later, following Anderson’s decision not to come back.
“ I’ve been here ever since. ”
The current location used to be a radiology clinic located off of Colt Square Drive before being converted in 1998. Now, vivid colors jump off walls in the same fashion as the students’ youthful exuberance. The school, with a faculty of a combined 21 teachers and aides, has an enrollment of 110 students ranging from 2 anda-half years old to 6-year-old kindergartners who either attend on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays; Tuesdays and Thursdays or all five days. The school year will end May 30 and will resume Sept. 2, following a series of summer camps.
In an age where innocence seems to vanish quicker than the day before, the purity in the eyes of the students has remained, according to the testimony of Wiggins, undaunted by outside vulgarity and fueled by discovery.
“ At this age, they just want to learn so much, ” she said. “ They might hit somebody or they might knock over a chair, but you can easily deal with that. ”
Given her experience, Wiggins said that she could identify a child’s age just by observing his or her behavior and mannerisms. Threeyear-olds are “ a bit clingy and need more direction” as opposed to 4-year-olds who “ if they know what to expect, they can do it. ” Fiveyear-olds are “ much more independent and capable. ”
“ They’re so happy to just learn anything you have to bring to them, ” added Linda Hardcastle, who has worked at the school for 22 years as an aide. “ They get so much enjoyment out of the simplest things at this age. ”
Before coming to Arkansas, Wiggins had taught home economics at a high school in New York and adult education courses in California, but she did not find the right fit until she started working at preschools, remembering advice from her father. “ He said ‘ When you find something that you love and you would do without pay, that’s what you should do, ’’ ’ she said. “ As soon as I walked in an early childhood classroom, I would work for nothing. I would be here everyday. ” ‘ Each day is different ’
Last Tuesday at 8: 30 a. m.,
Wiggins’ class of
4-yearolds were busy working at eight different activity stations in a room complete with 2-feet tall chairs with a seat the length of a ruler. Some children opted to work on building a railroad track. Others favored playing with blocks or working in the home center, which on this day was a restaurant.
As they went about their work, their voices formed a cacophony of high-pitched sounds — mostly short words and giggles. That is until Wiggins pulled out a wand and began an alternate version of “ Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star / Time to clean up where you are / Put each toy back in its place / Keep a smile on your face / Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star / Time to clean up where you are.
Songs have always been one of Wiggins’ essential teaching tools. Like actors in a miniature musical, her students never have been afraid to add songs to the soundtrack of their day with such tunes as “ Peanut Butter and Jelly” and “ I’m Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee. ”
The wand made its appearance to give a proper welcome to two guests, Peggy Treiber and her husband, Jeremy Hess. Weeks before, the couple had visited the class and asked the kids to illustrate pictures for a newly created story, “ Grasshopper Catches A Ride. ” After going through the book, Hess played a song inspired by the book that required several collective hops by the audience members, much to their delight.
Treiber, who along with her husband has read stories and sang children’s songs at the Fayetteville Public Library for five years, has known Wiggins since 1984 when her son, Adrian, attended the school. When Adrian was 4, Treiber did a similar project with his class to tell the true story of a turtle who hatched eggs in her backyard. Treiber and Hess will offer a similar opportunity to provide illustrations for the book at 10: 30 a. m. June 14 at the library.
“ We thought, ‘ Why not do it again ? It’s about time, ’” Treiber said.
Wiggins let the school’s board know about a year ago that she was entertaining the notion of stepping down.
“ I regretted saying it when I said it a week or two later but I realized that if I said it, then it was time, ” she said. “ Then I was OK with it. I just had a little second thought there for a moment. ”
Starting on Aug. 1, Barbara Culver, who has worked at the school for 12 years, will take over the role of director, although Wiggins will still serve in an advisory position as director of curriculum. One of the biggest challenges of replacing Wiggins, Culver said, is knowing the names of everyone in the school community, parents included — something that her predecessor always remembered.
“ I think she really has instilled the love of learning in lots of children, ” Culver said. “ She has soothed a lot of parents’ concerns because obviously this is most everybody’s foray into school with their children and a lot of parents are apprehensive, and she’s made that easy for them. ”
Her retirement should allow more time to spend with her own adult children, who live in Seattle and Sacramento, Calif., and grandchildren. A move out West, though, is out of the question because that would be too expensive, she said.
Following 25 years of working with young children, Wiggins has come across one main truth to her profession: “ that you can’t predict what’s going to happen. Every day is different. ”
So, too, is each child.
“ Mary Jane understands how to make kids blossom, ” Treiber said of the teacher who, on this day, was wearing a bright floral shirt, which is a common occurrence. “ That’s what it is … how to get them to want to grow. My kids loved it here. She’s able to interact with each child and give them what they need so that they can blossom. ”
Still, at times, the biggest compliments come from the smallest mouths.
“ She’s my favorite teacher, ” said 5-year-old Carly Johnson.
Why ?
“ Because she’s fun. ”
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