Golden Apple Award: Kathleen Rifenberick, Cloud Springs Elementary

ROSSVILLE, GA (WDEF) – Not every child learns the same way. Kathleen Rifenberick has a gift for tailoring her lesson plans to fit each student in her class at Cloud Springs Elementary. That kind of dedication earned Mrs. R this week’s Golden Apple Award.

Lori Wellborn is the Principal at Cloud Springs Elementary.

She says, ” There are so many things to like about Ms. Rifenberick. But I especially love how hard she works with the parents. I see her on the phone with parents after school, before school, during school. And she just tries to make a really good connection with all the parents. And make them feel comfortable about school.”

We asked, who is Kathleen Rifenberick?

She replied, “A mom and a teacher, a once student who struggled in reading, who decided as I got older and my child started struggling in school that I decided I wanted to be that support that I felt like I wish I had had when I was in school.”

When asked about her students, she said, “Love their little personalities. I love that I can come in every day and we’re learning, but we’re having fun. I’m not sitting in an office and doing banking or something. Not that banking is bad, but for me, just a person who needs to be up and moving and interacting with people.”

Michelle Allmond is the Assistant Principal at Cloud Springs.

She says, “Ms. Rifenberick is an excellent collaborator with her teammates. She digs into her data to figure out exactly what every student needs in her class. And then she works tirelessly, to find lessons that support and extend learning and develop those needs that have not been met yet.”

Mrs. Rifenberick remembers, “My grandmother, she went to Central, like the old Central school a long time ago. And when they tore it down, she got all these, like, oh, you know, like the old desk. And she put them up stairs for me in front of my chalk board. I just have this Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls that would sit in them, and I used to pretend to be a teacher.”

She concludes, “I think it’s mostly it’s the connection. Kids can always learn. But I think sometimes it’s about building like strong connections with students. They need to be able to have someone to connect to and someone to lean on and kids learn better from a person when they built a connection or a relationship with them.”