Mrs. Nancy Grimes

Art by Celia Bergman

27 years of teaching at KHS

TKC: What makes KHS unique compared to other schools?

Grimes: So many things. Sometimes I think that the teachers who haven’t taught at any other school, they don’t know how good they have it at KHS. When I taught at another school, I didn’t have a mentor. I didn’t have any guidance and when I got to Kirkwood, I had a mentor, I had guidance, I got to choose some of the things that I wanted to teach in art. Kirkwood paid for half of my master’s program that I started just before I came to Kirkwood and then I completed that. That’s just a little bit of the teacher benefits that they have. For the students, this is a beautiful campus that is kept so nice and clean and safe. A lot of things make Kirkwood a great place.

TKC: What is your favorite class to teach?

Grimes: I love sculpture, I love AP art, I love drawing. The lucky thing for me is that I’m just a little bit ADD, so I enjoy the change that I have during a typical day going from one class to another. I started AP art around 2008 and I’ve developed that, so that’s been kind of special to me.

TKC: What is your favorite memory at KHS?

Grimes: Anytime a big campus sculpture has gone up, I’ve just been so thrilled. When the first one went up, “The Reader,” that’s by journalism [room], was presented to the campus, I was thrilled because that was the first [sculpture]. When “The Pioneer” in the Commons was set up, it took the girls a whole year during class, after school [to complete]. When that was finished, I was thrilled. Then finally, we got to move outdoors for sculptures and work with the Engineering department and those were pretty thrilling moments too.

TKC: What will you miss the most about KHS?

Grimes: I’ll miss the kids. I’ll miss lunch with my faculty friends because you eat lunch every day with people who are funny but have like-minded interests. It’s a unique situation.

TKC: What are your plans for retirement?

Grimes: I plan to paint and work on my own art a lot because I’ve just never had the time to pursue my own art and I want to do that. The Walker family, that has been so supportive of the arts and the sculpture program, Dr. Walker is opening an art gallery in Austin, Texas and I’ve sent five paintings to her, so I’m going to see how that goes. I just hope to make art and get it out there.

TKC: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Grimes: This whole retirement bid is bittersweet for me because people say, “Congratulations” and I say, “Oh, what for?” I just love my job. I love art, I love kids, it’s been a perfect job so it’s very bittersweet. I hope I’m doing the right thing. We’ll see.