Betty Hollander and Sue Nutter both serve the High School as EAs, which stands for Educational assistants. A vital role in the functionality of the High School, they’re sometimes overlooked, but without them, Ames High School would be very different for their students. Betty Hollander has been with the high school for 17 years and Sue Nutter has been with the district for 26 years.

Before she worked at Ames High School, Mrs.Hollander worked as a professional cake decorator, having “made more wedding cakes than you can count.” While Miss. Nutter began her career at the high school as a sign language interpreter, explaining that both of her parents are deaf, so she’s been a certified sign language interpreter since she was sixteen. She currently is an Educational Assistant, where she spends half of her day in the classroom and half scheduling IEP (Individual Educational Plans) meetings. Their average class size varies from class to class. “One class will have three kids and one class will have twelve, but seldomly over ten,”  explains Mrs.Hollander.

Mrs. Hollander’s favorite memory of Ames High School is the close and personal connections she has made with her students over the years. “You are more than just their educator, you are also their friend, you develop a bond with them and sometimes they confide with you.”  Miss Nutter’s favorite memory of Ames High School is watching her students grow up. “There are years they struggle and there are years they make it, and being able to watch them graduate, there is a major pride factor in that.”

As far as major changes go they both agreed that there weren’t any world shifting changes. A lot of what they do is working with teachers. “Each teacher is different, so you have to adapt to each classroom that you go into.” said Betty Hollander. “Clothing styles change, cool words change but kids are kids, they all start out as awkward and immature and they all bloom and they all leave as young adults.” added Sue Nutter. Technology, however, is a different story. “When we started here no kids had cell phones, that whole world has just opened, I think things have really changed.” said Sue Nutter

When asked about their retirement plans, Betty Hollander responded by saying “I would love to just lay on a beach, I could live on a beach.” Also, “the last couple years there have been some changes in my life and I am looking at retirement as the next chapter in my book of life. I plan on volunteering and giving back to my community and maybe, eventually I might want to sub. I have two sisters that are also retired, so I plan on doing a lot of traveling with them.” Sue Nutter has a different story. “I probably wouldn’t be retiring if it was not for the fact that I have 11 grandchildren, all living in the same town in North Carolina. They all got there about two years ago and it has been tugging on my heart strings ever since. My goal is to get closer to my kids, my grandkids.” She added that she has sold her house and is moving out there on July 2nd. “The only hard part will be leaving all the friends and relationships I have formed over the years, but that is where I am thankful for technology.