Jackie Hupfer: This Week’s I AM, YOU ARE, WE ARE Honoree
Nov 30, 2021 | 12:31 PM
Humble, kind, and caring are three words that come to mind when talking about Bismarck’s own Jackie Hupfer – this week’s IYW award. If you have or have had children in the Bismarck school district in the last 38 years, chances are Jackie has helped them out in some way, shape, or form.
Jackie’s teaching career began right out of high school when she was working her first job at Kroger. Through her job, she met the principal at Henning, Bowman Rudolph, who knew she was going into elementary education. “He told me when I graduate, to talk to him – so I did, and I got my first teaching job!” Jackie also met a woman who had some land, so her and her husband, Chuck, purchased it, and they built their home in Bismarck in 1975 where they had a son and a daughter. They have now been married for 53 years. “Because of my job at Kroger’s, I feel like I was very fortunate to meet these people and it really landed us here.”
Henning schools eventually moved to Bismarck, and Jackie has been at the Bismarck Elementary School ever since. Thirty of her thirty-eight-year teaching career was spent teaching kindergarten. Jackie retired in 2011. She still substitute teaches and volunteers at the school doing many things, but specifically reads phonics words with the kindergarteners. “I can’t imagine not going to school! I just love this community! With COVID I feel like the teachers have had a couple of hard years. They are so dedicated to these kids, but there are only so many hours in a day. So, I like to help where I’m needed.”
Jackie also volunteers at the Fair Hope Children’s Ministry, Bismarck Blessings, and is the president of the Bismarck Women’s Club – in which all give back generously to the community.
Tearfully, Jackie added, “We have been very, very happy. I think it’s a wonderful community, so supportive and community minded. I really love being with the people. They are so family oriented and it’s so nice to be a part of a community where family is important.”
Thank you, Jackie, for taking care of our kids, and for giving so much of yourself to Vermilion County.
