By Michaela Gordoni
Some towns have schools named after presidents, but Swedeborg, Missouri, has an elementary school named after its jack-of-all-trades janitor — as it should!
Claudene Wilson doesn’t just mop floors and wipe down whiteboards. She drives the bus, landscapes, does lunch duty and serves as a supportive figure for the elementary students of Swedeborg — and has for 30 years.
A name on a building has to be someone who “makes you think of when you think of good,” one student said on KINDNESS 101 on CBS MORNINGS.
“She’s like in the zone. She focuses, and she’s just really dedicated herself to this school,” another kid said.
“Most of the kids, I had their moms and dads, and when they start school they say, ‘I already know about you!” Wilson said.
She also wins over the kids with a piece of candy or two.
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“I say, ‘You get your grades up and I’ll give you something special, like a sucker or a candy bar,’” Wilson said.
CBS’s Steve Hartman asked her, “What’s your motivation for doing all that?”
“The kids. The kids [are at my] heart,” Wilson told him.
The school board president, Chuck Borne, explained how important Wilson is to the school.
“These kids get sick. You think they go to the nurse to start with? They go to her. If they had a bad night, they go to her,” he said.
“Claudene will do anything for those kids,” Swedeborg superintendent Jim Bogle said, adding that Wilson was the first to arrive each morning and the last to leave. “One of the children said, ‘I want to be Miss Claudene when I grow up.’ And I know he’s not the only one who feels that way. She’s a celebrity here.”
Last year, the school board voted unanimously for Wilson’s name. But there’s only one person who wasn’t convinced — Wilson.
Wilson is the definition of humble. She doesn’t like recognition.
“It touches your heart, but I don’t think my name needs to be up on a building somewhere,” she said.
Many people on Facebook commented on the Swedeborg School District page when it announced the building’s name. One person wrote, “There is no one more deserving of this honor.” Another said, “Congratulations Ms. Claudene! You were a huge part of my childhood and always pushed us kids to be our best at all times. Nobody deserves recognition in this way more than you.”
She’s “what everybody should want to be,” said one child. “You know, that’s what I would want to be.”
Yes, we should all want to be like Ms. Claudene.
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