FARMINGTON — Megan Saunders was named the Farmington Public Schools 2024-2025 Senior Extraordinaire and presented with a star trophy during the district’s annual senior breakfast on Oct. 17.
The award is presented annually by the district to honor distinguished senior adults that volunteer their time and talents to enhance educational activities for FPS students.
Saunders, a former writer/editor for WXYZ, has devoted much of her retirement to assisting with the education of elementary school children within the district. For the last six years, she has been volunteering weekly, as an assistant in Debby Kuna’s classroom at Lanigan Elementary School through the Senior Adults Giving to Education Program. During that time, she has helped educate students in kindergarten, first, and third grade.
Saunders said that each grade has “their own benefits and enjoyment.”
“I like learning from the kids. They teach me stuff,” she said.
“They teach me that Barney’s not cool anymore. I don’t really have any little ones in my family anymore so I’m not really able to keep up on what’s good and in and out and all that stuff. I like how when you start working on reading you remember how weird the English language is. Of course you can’t sound that word out. It doesn’t make sense.”
“I’m a wiz at first grade math,” said Saunders.
Saunders said she decided to volunteer in the schools after she retired as she “had a lot of time on her hands,” and although she wasn’t a teacher herself, there were a lot of teachers in her family. She said she also likes that the program allows her to make her own schedule and allows for some flexibility.
She said she was “floored” when she got the award.
“I thought they should either set the bar higher or get more volunteers,” Saunders said. “Because I don’t feel I’ve contributed all that much. I do it ’cause I enjoy it and I hope somebody else gets something out of it.”
“Megan is very hard working, extremely dependable, flexible, and an all around great person,” said Kuna in a press release. “I take comfort in the days that I know she is coming to volunteer, it is like having another teacher in the classroom.”
Saunders helps in the classroom by working one-on-one with students who need extra help with assignments. She also assists with small groups during STEM time, helping students with their writing, listening to them read, and helping with anything else the students are working on.
“I’d say her best quality is her devotion towards all students,” said Kuna. “She’s capable of everything, She knows what she’s doing, she bonds well with the kids, she brings humor to it. They really like her. She makes jokes with them. They trust her.”
She said she decided to nominate Saunders after receiving a email asking for nominees from the school district.
“It’s funny I didn’t even know she was old enough to be considered a senior citizen. I texted her, ‘Hey how old are you,” and I found out she was old enough so I nominated her,” Kuna said.
Along with the award, Kuna presented Saunders with a book of her students’ compilations as to why Saunders was special to each of them.
Saunders said it is a very rewarding way to spend her time and would definitely recommend it to those who like kids. She said she works only about 1 ½ hours a week, and she will continue to do so as long as she is needed there.
“There’s always something new to learn from a 5-year-old,” she said.