RIVER FALLS – The school bell rang as students headed to their class at Rocky Branch Elementary. It did not matter if you attended in the 1990s or 2023, physical education teacher Karl Erickson has used the same greeting:

“Greetings Rocky Branch students. Welcome to physical education class.”

The greeting so many students have come to know will no longer be in use as Erickson and kindergarten teacher Caroline Henk will both be retiring after teaching at Rocky Branch since the school opened back in 1991.

After 32 years as a kindergarten teacher, Henk learned that teachers are teaching more than just the curriculum.

“There’s a whole lot more to, like [Erickson] said, his gym class or adding and subtracting and reading,” Henk said. “We’re building kids for the future.”

Henk said the school has changed a lot over the years, but the one thing that has remained consistent is teaching kindergarten. The format of the class was not always the same, but Henk settled into the role, and has most recently taught multiage classes with both kindergarteners and first graders at the same time.

“I did kindergarten every way you can imagine, half-day, country, town, you name it,” Henk said.

It was not easy for the two retirees to select a favorite memory throughout their time, but Henk recalled memories such as Halloween with students and staff dressing up.

Henk mentioned the most rewarding thing was seeing all the students move through the school system and later become adults in the community.

“It’s been really fun to watch, you know, from kindergarten all the way through, and then what they’ve become,” Henk said.

For Erickson, some of the best memories came from coaching boys and girls varsity hockey teams at River Falls, including winning three straight Wisconsin girls hockey state championships. These memories with Erickson do not always end when the hockey players graduate, as students often return to the community and meet up with Erickson on the ice.

“I’m playing old timers’ hockey with some of my former players who are now ‘old timers,’ so my students become friends when they grow up,” Erickson said.

The two agreed they have made some great memories at the school but are ready for the next adventures that come their way.

Henk said embracing a new day is the way to navigate through years of ups and downs; she will now be able to embrace a new adventure entirely.

The two agreed the most difficult part of saying goodbye will be separating from the identity of teacher.

“Being a teacher, that’s who you are, and then when we’re done, we’re really no longer teachers, so it’s hard to identify as that,” Erickson said.

While the two will no longer be teaching, the impact made on students from four different decades has not gone unnoticed. A simple greeting from Erickson decades ago is just one of many examples of the impact the two have had.

“I’ve been saying that for 30 something years, and I have students coming back to me, you know, 20 years later, ‘Mr. Erickson are you still saying ‘Greetings Rocky Branch students. Welcome to physical education class?’”