Henrico's Top Teachers – June Degenhardt, Glen Allen ES

This year, June Degenhardt will celebrate the end of a 33-year career teaching elementary school students.

“I am retiring from teaching with a full heart and many special memories,” she said.

Degenhardt’s recommender wrote about her remarkable ability to understand and engage with her students.

“Mrs. Degenhardt gives her whole heart and soul to her students,” they wrote. “She has an amazing ability to ‘read’ each individual child, and goes above and beyond to make every child feel comfortable and confident in her classroom.”

As a student at Fairhill Elementary School in Fairfax County, Degenhardt had dreamed of becoming a teacher.

“I still have a picture I drew as a kid, showing my future classroom,” she said.

Degenhardt explained that her mother, who worked at a daycare and later owned a preschool, had a significant and positive impact on her career path. Working at the daycare with her mother as a young adult helped Degenhardt gain the many skills needed to work with young children, she said.

Over the course of her career, Degenhardt has taught kindergarten, as well as first, fourth, and fifth-grade students. For the past 16 years, she has taught first grade at Glen Allen Elementary.

“It is true that you can’t get bored teaching first grade!” Degenhardt said, describing the many ways students keep her on her toes.

“A student can be explaining the main idea of a story… then the giggling starts and we work toward getting back on track, which is about the time a huge water spill takes place, resulting in 10 kids running to grab tissues to assist with the cleanup.”

Degenhardt said that aside from the kids, her favorite part about teaching at Glen Allen Elementary  has been her supportive colleagues.

“Without mutual support, we wouldn’t be able to give everything we have to our students,” she said. “Glen Allen Elementary is full of creative, dedicated, caring individuals who really do make a difference for our students. I am honored to be part of the Glen Allen family.”

From the very beginning of her career, Degenhardt went above and beyond to care for her students. When she first began teaching at public schools, she took over a class of fifth- graders whose teacher had left the month prior. Several substitutes into the semester, the class developed conduct issues.

“The most recent substitute left a five-page letter outlining what had to be done for the class to be successful,” she said. “The students had really been acting out.

“With all the changes they had been through, it took some time to build trust with them. They thought I would leave them, too.”

Degenhardt never gave up on those students. During the next four months, she saw them make great strides as they bonded as a class.

“Seeing the students drop their defenses and focus on learning made me feel proud,” she said.

Though teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t ideal, Degenhardt said it allowed her to connect with her online first-graders in a special way.

During such an uncertain time, we provided each other with routines and consistency,” she said. “Honestly, we had a lot of face to face time through the computer screen and got to know one another well.”

Degenhart’s recommender had a son in her class during the 2019 to 2020 school year. Their recommendation commended her resilience and dedication to her students during the pandemic.

“Despite the chaos and confusion the pandemic brought to educating our children, Mrs. Degenhardt did an amazing job of keeping her students engaged and excited to learn,” they wrote. “She made an effort to see and hear every single student, and acknowledge their worth.”

“She has risen to every challenge these past few years have thrown her way, and her students have continued to learn, grow, and thrive through her dedication and passion for teaching,” they wrote. “She shares personal stories, shows her class photos of her beloved cats, and asks students to share their lives with her in return.”

Later in the year, Degenhardt found herself teaching a hybrid classroom with eight students in-person and eleven online. Despite the new challenges, she found ways to navigate the new teaching landscape.

“Interacting with both groups was a new challenge, but we pushed through, built relationships, and saw academic growth,” she said.

As her teaching career approaches an end, Degenhardt reflected on advice she would give to new teachers. Early in her career she spent six months as a substitute teacher, an experience which she said helped her grow in ways she never could have imagined.

“Not only did I work with new populations of students each day, I gained unique perspectives from each position I filled,” she said. “For this reason, I would encourage future teachers or new teachers to get in as many classrooms as you can to broaden your experiences and prepare  for any student who may enter your classroom.”