TAMPICO – Some people work for the weekend. Not retired Tampico Elementary School teacher Pamela Hagan.

“When I was at the elementary school, I lived for Mondays,” said Hagan, who recently retired after 42 years with the school district.

In her first 13 years, she worked at the now-closed Tampico High School, where she coached volleyball, track and cheerleading, among other activities.

But Hagan, 63, was glad she switched to the elementary school. There, she taught fifth grade for all but one of her next 29 years.

“The kids in elementary school are eager to learn, raise hands, and come in with a smiling face,” Hagan said. “High school kids come to school because they have to.”

Hagan graduated from East Peoria High School in 1966 and went to Illinois State University in Normal, where she earned a bachelor’s degree.

“My parents were my role models,” she said. “They were never able to go to college, so they made sure my brother and I had that opportunity.”

Before she graduated, Hagan found out about a physical education teaching job at Tampico High School. Driving into Whiteside County, she mistakenly thought the small Amish schoolhouse was the high school.

“I wondered what we would do all winter for PE,” she said.

Hagan got an interview and was quickly offered the job. She didn’t know anyone in Tampico, but she quickly came to love the small-town environment.

At the elementary school, Hagan said, she enjoyed teaching math the most “because there’s a right and wrong.” She also likes giving U.S. history lessons. (On vacations, she visits Civil War sites.)

Hagan, however, said she did not like to teach reading.

Another Tampico teacher, Ann Cooper, however, said her colleague excels as a reading teacher. Cooper is a former student of Hagan’s who now is the school’s reading interventionist.

“She’s known to get kids who don’t like to read to love to read,” Cooper said. “I’ve had parents who have told me that she was the only teacher who could get their kids to read.”

What big changes has she seen over the years?

“The children are still the same,” Hagan said. “The family units have changed. Most of that is due to the economy. Most families were two-parent homes, with the moms staying at home. Now, both parents have to work.”

As a result, Hagan said, many students don’t get the time they need with their parents.

“I see a lot of kids who need attention from an adult,” she said. “It’s not that the parents don’t care. It’s that they’re busy and they’re tired.”

Often at the beginning of the day, students would ask for hugs from her, Hagan said.

“In the earlier days, I didn’t see that,” she said.

Hagan also has seen more low-income students since the decline of industry, particularly the steel mill closure in Sterling in 2001.

In the mid-1990s, the Tampico school district merged with the Prophetstown-Lyndon district. The high school closed.

The elementary school didn’t see a big difference. But the town in general did. Without a high school and its activities, Tampico became quieter, Hagan said.

Another change over time: The greater focus on test scores.

“The only things that seem to matter are test scores and money – save money and raise scores,” Hagan said. “Making kids happy and helping them be good citizens go by the wayside.”

In retirement, Hagan said, she plans to travel more, catch up on her reading, and volunteer in the school.

She said she will miss her job.

“What I loved about teaching was that you didn’t know what the day would bring – from the moment you stepped out of the car,” she said. “I’ve never been bored.”

Pamela Hagan

Age: 63

Residence: Tampico

Education: East Peoria High School, 1966; Illinois State University, bachelor's degree, 1970; Northern Illinois University, master's degree, 1990

Occupation: Retired after 42 years as a Tampico teacher