SANFORD — As you walk into the room, the scent of lotions and soaps will become apparent. The source of these smells come from the various bottles at the sink. Some of these she bought as a gift for a student so her hand would not be so dry.

The walls are filled with pictures and posters that make the room seem happy and bright. Lining the walls are shelves filled with various objects, some of which belong to the students that go there. She put these pictures and objects that the students gave her on display, probably for the same reasons that a mom would put a picture on her fridge.

She is Kary Kooiman. She has been a special education teacher for about 27 years with 26 of those years teaching at Sanford Junior-Senior High School. She not only took on the role of teacher, but she took also took on the role of coach for basketball, volleyball and track for junior high students. On top of these activities, she led the school knowledge bowl team. Kooiman began her carrier in Alamosa in 1990 and is retiring from Sanford this year. She is not just a bus driver, a class sponsor, a teacher, a coach, a club leader — she is Mrs. Kooiman.

A bulletin board contains pictures of the student’s accomplishments and their activities. Alongside them hangs a meal calendar displaying the breakfast and lunch menus for the month. To a particular student, this tells him what will be waiting on a tray behind her desk when he gets to class. Instead of eating the breakfast that the school gives her, she saves it for him so that he will not be so hungry and so he can have food before he takes his medicine.

“The caring and love that she has for each and every one of her student's is evident in everything that she does,” Debbie Fringer, a fellow teacher, said. “She goes above and beyond reasonable expectations.”

On one of the walls leans a cupboard with individual containers for each of her students. They contain the supplies that they will need for the day as they learn and grow. These containers are tailored to each of the student’s needs and labeled with their names.

“She got students who would not open up with anyone else, to open up in her classroom” Kay Lopez, a former teacher and substitute at Sanford high school, said. “Students would go hang out in her classroom during their free time because it felt like a second home.”

And of course, there is a box of prizes in the closet for the students when they reach their individual goals. These prizes are not limited to the box as one student found. Having no money to get a donut at recess like some students, his prize was a quarter so that when he had enough, he was finally able to buy one.

“I have not only witnessed this great love and care to work alongside Karrie but have felt it as she has worked with a couple of my own children. Karrie helped them go far beyond what they thought possible. My life has forever been blessed by her love and great example she has been for me and many others. From the bottom of my heart thank you, Karrie, for your friendship, guidance, and dedication to the art and gift of teaching.”

When asked what her most significant accomplishment was, she said, “I tried to make my classroom feel like home and make it an environment where the students feel safe.”

As a former student of Sanford and member of her knowledge bowl team, I think that she accomplished this and so much more.