Dressing for success

Marisa O’Neil

After 41 years of teaching in the same classroom at Pomona Elementary

School, Peggy Engard is hanging up her hats -- her pilgrim hat, her

witch’s hat and all the rest.

Engard, who teaches kindergarten, is well-known at her school for

her colorful outfits, seasonal and otherwise. She wears a different

outfit for every day of the school year, each designed to illustrate

a lesson on color, a story or a holiday. The clothes fill four

closets in her Costa Mesa home, Engard admitted.

“I’m not going to know what time of year it is next year,” joked

afternoon kindergarten teacher Kim Steenhard, who shares Engard’s

classroom.

Past students have been sending her their best wishes and relaying

their fondest memories. Engard has gathered the letters together in a

scrapbook. Her current students made their own contributions on

Monday.

Each student got a piece of paper and instructions to draw a

picture of Engard and one of her outfits. Then they told Steenhard

something they remembered about their teacher from the year so she

could write it on the picture.

As they sat at their little tables, carefully selecting just the

right color crayon and drawing their teacher, 6-year-old Diana

O’Bannon set the bar high for the rest of the class.

“Oh my goodness,” Engard exclaimed when Diana came up and showed

her picture. “Did you do this yourself?”

Underneath a drawing of Engard at a desk, Diana had written: “I

like you a lot.”

Classmates demanded to see the picture, which drew a collective

gasp. It wasn’t part of the assignment, but most of the students

resolved to write something themselves on their own pictures.

Mariah Reese, 6, went up to Steenhard and asked how to spell

“Engard.” A few moments later, she returned with “I love Mrs. Engard”

written in crayon on her paper.

Some students, like 6-year-old Viridiana Rios, drew Engard and her

house. When they learn certain skills in the class, like their colors

or counting to 100, they get rewarded with a lunch date at her Costa

Mesa home.

Viridiana drew two red-curtained windows on the house, with Engard

looking out one and her dog peeking out the other.

Eduardo Enriquez, 5, drew Engard in her clown costume. “I liked it

when you dressed like a clown,” he wrote with Steenhard’s help.

Other students drew their teacher in a pilgrim costume and in her

traditional Halloween witch costume. Nearly every student wrote, in

one form or another: “I like you,” to Engard.

“I’ll miss the kids,” Engard said. “I’ve tried not to shed any

tears, but when I read stories [from students] it brings tears to my

eyes knowing that they remember kindergarten.”