Heidi Schacht spent more than three decades working in education and found there is nothing like working in the classroom.
Now there is nothing like retirement.
Schacht was involved in education for 36 years, the last 14 at Luverne Elementary School.
“We always knew I would retire when Spencer finished college,” she said.
Spencer, the youngest of Mike and Heidi’s two children, graduated from St. Cloud State University in May.
Daughter Hayley teaches in Redfield, South Dakota, while Spencer is a television reporter in Missoula, Montana.
A Watertown, South Dakota, native, Schacht earned a degree in education from Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota, followed by a master’s degree in guidance counseling from South Dakota State University in Brookings.
Schacht attributes her career choice to her mother, who was also a teacher and guidance counselor.
Schacht’s teaching career began in Watertown in 1981. She spent seven years working alongside her childhood teachers.
“That was neat,” she recalled. “My sixth grade teacher was Mrs. Mitchell and she was still there. She asked me to call her Lois.”
Marriage to Mike Schacht in 1987 and his banking career prompted a series of moves. Heidi filled teaching and/or counseling positions in Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa and, finally in 2005 in Luverne.
The different positions brought into perspective her preference for the classroom.
“I was an administrative assistant once, and I knew I never wanted to do that again,” she said. “That’s a big job.”
Throughout her career her goal was to impress on students to make good decisions.
In Luverne Schacht spent 14 years in the kindergarten classroom.
“Kindergartners are like sponges and soak everything up,” she said. “There is so much growth.”
And reward.
Schacht’s patience in guiding students to read, for instance, was rewarded when students began to recognize words.
“The light bulb goes on and they can read,” she said. “The floodgates open and I just loved watching their love of learning blossom.”
And not blossom just academically but also socially in the skills taught outside of books.
Schacht never viewed education as a chore.
“I never went to work,” she said. “Going to school every day was fun.”
Her fun in education continues in retirement with a sense of accomplishment.
“I had an amazing class my first year and an amazing class the last year,” she said.
Mike retired last year from First Farmers and Merchants Bank in Luverne.
The couple enjoys camping, traveling and being with friends and family.
Schacht said she might be a little too cliché about retirement.
“Life is too short,” she said. “We don’t know what the future holds. Why not seize the moment and do what you want to do.”