She adds, “You can’t go anywhere where you don’t see someone. The kids often double-take, surprised to see me. It makes me feel wonderful. They address me as Miss Sheryl. When I see them looking at me excitedly, it’s just wonderful to be Miss Sheryl.”

When Sheryl took that fateful call that changed her life, personally and professionally, her oldest daughter was in sixth grade. While she had worked in medical reception and as a billing clerk for years, she stepped away from the workforce to be home with her daughter. Tempted to explore getting back into the workforce, Sheryl accepted the offer, and a week of subbing transitioned into a decade, stepping into any building that needed her. She leaned into her love of children, working in several schools that have since consolidated. In 2012 she accepted a full-time position at Sainte Marie—one of the smallest schools that continues to operate within the county—a role where she’s been able to watch countless local children enter the educational system, a position she describes as an honor and a blessing.

While Sheryl enjoyed her time as a substitute secretary, the district offered her a full-time position as the kindergarten secretary, where she says she’s responsible for supporting all pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes. She quickly accepted, sharing that while the simplicity of one full-time position was appealing, the children are why she loves her job.

With Sheryl’s youngest of two daughters finishing up her first year in college, she smiles and admits she still classifies herself as a mother figure. She admits that being a parent of two prepared her, in many ways, to support her students. Even as I arrive, Sheryl’s helping with student care, a task that is likely supported far more by parenthood than on-the-job training.

Over the past twenty years, Sheryl has observed numerous transitions from multiple vantages. While she has served as a substitute throughout the county, she’s also a county resident, with both daughters, herself and her husband graduating from Newton Community High School. Through her time, she’s witnessed several smaller schools consolidating into fewer, larger schools, identifying two constants throughout each period of transition: community support and student success.

The morning that Sheryl and I talk is a day of transition for many of the county’s children and their families. It’s the last day of kindergarten. The children—and the teachers and staff, for that matter—celebrate the special occasion with special end-of-year activities. Sheryl describes it as a little extra TLC.

“They’re almost first graders,” she adds triumphantly, disclosing that eighty-four kindergarteners will transition into the grade school in the Fall. While the number of students per year has recently grown, they’ve also had a similar number of kindergarten students in previous years.

The four kindergarten classrooms are designed to support and nurture the county’s youth, teaching them the foundational reading, math, and social skills they’ll need to excel in elementary school. Sheryl supports them all. She considers it one of her primary responsibilities to care for the student’s basic needs. With Sainte Marie operating as a small school moderately far from the school system’s central hub, the job requires independence, flexibility, and self-reliance. Sheryl says with a friendly chuckle, ‘My role is diverse.’

Sheryl credits the community for supporting their youth, regardless of circumstance. “The success of all the students, whether in multiple little buildings, many of which closed after the schools consolidated, it’s always worked,” says Sheryl.

She adds, “Whether the schools are smaller or bigger. The staff and the parents ensure it works. Everyone works together. It takes everyone to make it work.”

Multiple organizations within the community team up, often working together to provide children with what they need to be successful. From raising money for tornado survivors in the area to Operation Backpack (which supplies backpacks and school supplies to children in need) to how the community rallies around the Parent Teacher Organization, Sheryl says the area consistently rallies together to care for one another. From raising funds for those who need it to community support for band and athletics, all the organizations and the individual residents work together to support various kids’ interests.

Regarding Jasper County, Sheryl says one thing that is as timeless as it is true. “There’s a lot of people here who care about the future of these kids.”