Attendance Secretary Ruth Casper is in her last week of working in the main office. December 22 is her last day.

Before working at the high school, Casper worked at Hixton Elementary until it closed. Casper was very emotional on her first day.

“I thought that nobody’s going to like me here and I cried all the way to work on the first day thinking that the little kids at Hixton loved me but the high school kids aren’t going to at all,” said Casper.

When Casper entered the school, she said that all the staff that approached her were so nice, and she decided that she would just try it for the day. She ended up staying at the high school for 17.5 years.

Although she will not be working at the high school anymore, she still has many things that will be keeping her busy.

“I’ll have more grandma time. I have an older sister, I’ll have more sister time, more family time, and more me time,” said Casper.

Casper says that she is very excited to do the things that she loves but hasn’t had much time to do lately, such as spinning, knitting, and weaving.

Casper wanted to leave one last message with the high school students.

”All of these students in this school can accomplish anything that they set their minds to; there isn’t one here that can’t do that. There might have to be a little modification of what they want to do, but there isn’t one student that can’t do what they want to,” said Casper.

Excited for the end, Casper says that she is still expecting people who see her in the community to come up and say hello and to not forget her.

To sign off as Casper would say, “Everyday is a great day to be a tiger!”

Video produced by Kim Leadholm and Memphis Cleveland.