The sound of nearly 500 elementary schoolers cheering and blowing party noisemakers filled the air recently at Highbridge Hill Elementary School in New Ipswich. The source of the celebration was a ceremony for Principal Marion Saari, who is retiring at the end of this year after 42 years in the Mascenic Regional School District.
The staff and students of Highbridge dedicated a storybook walk to Saari, inspired by her passion for book walks at the school. The PTA gifted her a tree to be planted on school grounds in order to represent how Saari will continue to help the school grow, even when she’s no longer there.
As Saari was escorted to the ceremony by Highbridge’s mascot, a giant husky named Harmony, many teachers and staff wiped away tears, and students began chanting, “Mrs. Saari, we will miss you, you will always have a home here!”
Assistant Principal Lisa Wilkinson gave a brief speech when Saari arrived. She said that although Saari may have preferred to leave humbly and without any events in her honor, the staff thought that she was too important to let that happen.
“Highbridge Hill Elementary is truly the house the Mrs. Saari built,” Wilkinson said as she held back tears.
Saari said it was love for the people and for the community that kept her working in schools for so long.
“I live in this community, I grew up in Greenville, so these are my people,” she said.
Saari started as a paraprofessional in elementary schools, then became a teacher. She later became the principal of the three elementary schools that served New Ipswich and Greenville, before the schools combined to become Highbridge in 2011. Saari has been the principal of Highbridge since its opening.
“We all came together as one,” Saari said.
Many people in the community had Saari as either their principal or their children’s principal, and echoed the praise for her.
“My children’s elementary school years were the best of their school experience because of her,” said Sharon Tucker, a speech assistant at Highbridge Elementary. She went on to explain that her daughter, who had Saari as principal, recently graduated college and is looking for a position as an elementary school teacher.
“She says it’s very hard to come by this sort of environment,” Tucker said.
Darlene Wilkins, a tutor at Highbridge Elementary whose four children were some of Saari’s first students at Highbridge, shared a similar sentiment.
“This school is everything she envisioned and more,” Tucker said.
Wilkins closed her speech by noting that Saari prioritized students in a way that other educators should strive to do.
“You truly lived every day your mantra: ‘Is this what’s best for kids?’” Wilkins said. “That simple line informed everything you did and every decision you made.”