Penncrest Seniors Surprise Former Elementary School Teacher

As seniors finish up finals and prepare to graduate, many students reminisce about their high school years and the fun moments they had with friends, but one group of seniors decided to take one last look back at elementary school before they don their caps and gowns.

A group of about 13 Penncrest students decided to go back and visit their former fourth and fifth grade teacher on Tuesday.

The Indian Lane Class of 2004 was one of a select few that were part of the "loop" program at Indian Lane where a teacher could elect to keep the same class, all day, for fourth and fifth grade.

Dr. Lee Sitkowski was one of those teachers.

The group headed back to Indian Lane along with their former class aide, Pam Bullock, to surprise Sitkowski.

There was no real reason the class decided to take a walk down memory lane at "the Lane." Sitkowski isn’t retiring and he’s kept in touch with some of his former students through the years. The class just seemed to want to hang out with Sitkowski. Maybe to take their minds off of finals or to remember the good ‘ol days rather than focus on the scary unknown of the future that soon awaits them.

The former class had about 18 students and most of them remain close friends, Bonnie Holm, the organizer of the surprise, said.

Holms said a few of them were talking about their times together at Indian Lane at a recent graduation party and the idea was born that they would go back and surprise Sitkowski.

"He was really like a father figure," Keye Faddis said.

When Sitkowski walked into the school’s library and there was his former class staring back at him, he acted as if they had just been sitting at those same tables only weeks ago.

He greeted each former student with a handshake and although he didn’t appear overly surprised, the genuine, giant smile across his face displayed his excitement.

Bullock said the class looked completely different since she last saw most of them seven years ago.

"It’s the facial hair, I think," she said.

But Sitkowski said he thought the kids hadn’t changed much.

"I’m shocked by how much they look the same," he said. "There’s some you don’t recognize but a lot of them look the same."

Sitkowski said he still sees some of his former students when they come to Indian Lane to support younger siblings.

Sitkowski asked the students if they thought Indian Lane looked different.

They all replied almost in unison, "It’s small."

"It’s exactly the same, but smaller," James Archambo said.

The class was disappointed that the school mascot had changed since they had attended school there. Indian Lane is now home to the bobcats but it once was home to the deer.

Sitkowski explained that there was a petition to change it a few years ago and there were many that voted for the change.

"There are more deer running around here than bobcats," Holm laughed with her friends. "The deer was classy."

The Class of 2004 talked about old times with Sitkowski and reminisced about "Winnie Dixie" and "in the river" and "popcorn time" and other jokes they had in fourth and fifth grade.

Faddis said he remembered Sitkowski dyed his hair purple and green for field day one year.

Sitkowski told the class what he had been up to since they last sat in his classroom. His own children are pre-teens now and he’s now Dr. Sitkowski rather than Mr.

Indian Lane no longer has the loop program and this class was one of the few that even existed.

The class said it credits how close they are to the loop program. They said not many fifth grade classes continued to be friends in middle school and high school and they all had no doubt that they would continue to be friends after graduation even though they won’t be seeing each other every day at school.

However, some of these students will be going on to college together. At least four of them are headed to Temple University in the fall.

"These guys have been good friends forever," Sitkowski said.

The students told Sitkowski about their college and future plans and many of their choices came as no surprise to him.

There was talk of the police academy, history teacher, nursing, Disney imaginer, civil engineer, marketing, business, Spanish, psychology, pharmacist and an architect, to name a few of student’s possible life plans.

"I could see that. I could see that," Sitkowski said as each student said what they wanted to do.

Watching the students talk with Sitkowski and listen intently to what he had to say, it was quite apparent that Sitkowski made the right career choice.

"I love what I do," Sitkowski said. "I enjoy the kids and I don’t want to leave."