By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
She's a reindeer, an elf, and a crossing guard. Actually, Abby Jonas is an educator at Jefferson Elementary School in Great Bend. Jonas and two other teachers in the building have filled in as crossing guards for the past several years. Jonas said it's a role the educators have actually embraced.
"We lost our crossing guard three of four years ago," she said. "She was amazing, but she had hip surgery and couldn't come back. (Former Jefferson Principal Kip) Wilson asked the teachers who wanted to take it. At that point, we thought it was going to be a one-year thing, and it turned into a four-year thing."
This week, Jonas has gone all-out as various Christmas characters, even braving windchills in the teens Thursday morning to don tights as an elf. In the past, Jonas has dressed as a present in a cardboard box, and once she was even Cousin Eddie from the National Lampoon Christmas movie.
"It's fun seeing their smiles and the waves by the people," she said. "I swear I have a bunch of friends, but I don't know a lot of their names. I think it's a fun way to start my day and the kids'."
Jonas graduated from Great Bend High School in 2011, then went to Fort Hays State University, where she played softball and graduated with a degree in elementary education. Just Wednesday night, she submitted her final assignment for her Master's degree.
Jonas taught kindergarten at Jefferson for six years, but this year moved to the technology coach position where she teaches the students digital citizenship, or how to be safe online when utilizing the internet. She also works to keep the many Chromebooks in the building running smoothly.
Kindergarten teacher Pam Jordan and sixth-grade teacher Mackenzie Nelson often pull crosswalk duty, but Jonas gave her coworkers some time off for Christmas. And so she could dress up. Her outfit Thursday morning was accompanied by a boombox playing Christmas music as the kids walked to the building.
"They just jump in, and they just do whatever needs to be done," said Jefferson Principal Adam Niedens. "They always seem to go above and beyond with whatever it is. Something as small as crosswalk, they just make it seem fun out there."