Gene Witt Elementary School celebrates its 30th anniversary

Kim Wilder, a third grade teacher at Gene Witt Elementary School, suggested her student Emma Jervis use a black marker to make the drawings pop on the school flag she was creating.

Jervis took the marker and began to draw the eagle, lines and words that made up the flag's design.

It was part of a contest where the students were designing their version of a school flag that would become Gene Witt Elementary School's official school flag in celebration of its 30th anniversary. 

Celebrating Gene Witt's anniversary — the school opened 30 years ago in November — is bittersweet for Wilder. After 35 years in education overall, Wilder is retiring at the end of this school year from the school that she helped open 30 years ago. 

Photo by Liz Ramos

Wilder recalled a little dirt road leading to the school as the area had not been developed yet. She watched as the school was being built from the ground up while her home was also being built nearby.

She said fellow teachers also were moving to the area with the knowledge Gene Witt would eventually be their children's school. The school would be the centerpiece of a tight-knit community and would provide an "amazing experience" for the teachers and their children.

Wilder said the school has been blessed to have principals who have kept the school as true to the values of Gene Witt, the school's namesake, who focused on making every decision foremost about the students. 

Students this year have been learning the school's mantra and the accompanying hand motions. They are learning Quantum Learning's eight keys of excellence: integrity, failure leads to success, speak with good purpose, "this is it!" commitment, ownership, flexibility and balance. The eight keys of excellence were first introduced when Myra Russell was principal of Gene Witt. 

Both Wilder and STEM and science teacher Tom Brugos believe Gene Witt Elementary is the best school in the School District of Manatee County, if not the state. 

"We're competitive, especially the third grade team," Wilder said. "We like to make sure our kids score really well. We're just committed to teaching the standards and making sure the kids enjoy themselves." 

When Witt Elementary opened, Wilder and Brugos said it was considered a "high tech" school because it had the latest technology. Wilder recalled having a blueberry Apple iMac computer in her classroom.

"We thought we were so cool because we were so techie, but we really weren't now looking back," Wilder said with a laugh.

Brugos started at Gene Witt as a fourth grade teacher in November 1994, just three months after the school opened. He previous served as a substitute teacher at Palmetto Elementary School. It was his first teaching position since graduating from Purdue University that year and moving from Indiana to Florida.

Brugos recalled having butterflies after only having a day to set up his classroom. He had his students sing a song and play a name association game so they could get to know each other.

"It seems like yesterday when I got hired, and I just can't believe I get paid for what I do because I have more fun than the kids," he said. "I get paid to teach, have fun and instill a love of learning in the kids that hopefully they never lose."

Brugos worked with Becky Phillips, the media center specialist at the time, to open the broadcast studio in the media center, which is still used every day for students to broadcast the school's morning news. 

Photo by Liz Ramos

"It warms my heart seeing generation after generation of kids using the studio, doing fun things on the news," Brugos said. "Perhaps some of them have been inspired to go into broadcasting."

But Brugos never thought in 1994 that he would become a STEM teacher charged with teaching students how to build robots, use 3D printers and program drones. 

Gene Witt Elementary sent five Vex robotics teams to compete in the Vex Robotics World Championships in 2023. 

In the early years of Gene Witt, Brugos kept reptiles in his classroom, including a 5-foot iguana named Yoshi and an 8-foot red-tailed boa named Edgar Allen Boa. Some of his students would come back from the cafeteria with fresh fruit to feed Yoshi. Brugos said his former students still talk about the reptiles when they come back to visit the school. 

No matter where students or teachers go after leaving Gene Witt Elementary, it seems many find their way back to the school, which Brugos and Wilder said speaks to the school's family culture.

Teachers and staff members who have retired from the school return to volunteer or support the school. Sally Farrell, a retired second grade teacher, said goodbye to her classroom in 2020 after 26 years teaching at Gene Witt. She returned to assist students in making a Thanksgiving banner the week before fall break.

Brugos and Wilder have taught generations of families. 

Jervis, who is currently in Wilder's third grade class, is the daughter of Chelsea Jervis, who Wilder also taught. 

There have been moments that Wilder has noticed mannerisms of Emma Jervis that remind her of Chelsea Jervis. She said she's even accidentally called Emma by her mother's name. 

"It's been a blessing that I've been able to stay at the school for that amount of time, to watch little 8-year-olds grow up and to see them have a family. And now I am teaching their children," Wilder said. "You feel a part of their family."