ELKHART COUNTY, Ind.--- The staff at Jefferson Elementary School held a parade for students to celebrate the end of the school year on Thursday. Students lined the streets along the neighborhoods County Road 20 as staff and first responders drove by.

“We wanted to be able to have a completion to our year because we’ve missed the students so much and the students missed us so this was a way to have a finale to our year,” said Trisha Brickner, the school’s principal.

For 2^nd grade teacher Paula Klunder, saying goodbye took on a whole new meeting. Thursday Klunder retired from Jefferson Elementary School after 38 years of teaching.

“It was good to see kids for the last time and be with staff for the last time, it was a good day,” said Klunder, “I’ve worked with these great people for this long that it will forever be in my heart.”

The staff at Jefferson say they want the students there to be proud of how much they accomplished, in the midst of a pandemic and a semester of virtual learning.

“The students know they did some hard things going through e-learning but they survived and we’re coming together as a community to unite,” said Brickner.