Wrangell Sentinel -

Sandra "Sandy" Churchill didn't expect to get her first paid position in 1998 at the Head Start program as a teacher's aide/cook. "There's hardly ever any openings here," she said. "I was so surprised when I got in."

She also didn't expect to still be working at Head Start over 26 years later as lead teacher. "My goal was for 25," she said, laughing.

Churchill will retire at the end of the school year. "It's a whole new chapter for me," she said. "I wonder what's it's going to be like, retiring."

She likes to say with a kind smile that after so many years of working in the program, kids as wel...