Wenger would patiently wait all summer long until she would see her teacher’s car show up in the school parking lot. She eagerly asked her mother if she could go help set up the classroom for the day.

“Of all the places and all the things kids wanted to do…” Wenger said with a laugh. “ I wanted to go to school and help her. I think I just knew that was what I wanted to do. It’s worked out.”

When Wenger began her career as a self-contained special education teacher she quickly realized the experience was different than the average classroom. In the self-contained room, she began to know the students more intimately since they were in the classroom all day.

“The biggest thing was we became a family in that room since we spent so much time together,” she said. “In the old days, when we would have a toaster in my room, we would start the day with peanut butter toast, just to get the day started in a positive way and make sure they were fed and happy and could make progress.”

Wenger adds that in the “regular” classrooms, like her sixth-grade classrooms, she’s enjoyed getting to know many different families at McNeel. She’s had all the siblings in one family before, so she’s gotten to know the families well.

“The kids will come in and say, ‘You had my brother,’” she said. “And I’m like, ‘What did your brother say about me?’ ‘Well, he liked you.’ That’s good, we’re going to be OK.”

She adds she’s even taught children of a former student in her classroom now, so she feels like she’s been able to see things come full circle.

Wenger has recently become grandmother to her second grandchild, who lives in central Illinois. She decided she wanted freedom to see her oldest grandchild start school this fall which led to her decision to retire at the end of the school year. She adds that when her grandkids have “Grandparents Day” she wants to be able to say she will for sure be there for them.