A love for community

From the rewards of small-group teaching in the classroom or making friendships with neighbors and teammates

Meet Ashley Peterson

My name is Ashley Peterson. I live in Kingsford, and I work as the fourth-grade special education teacher for Breitung Township Schools.   

I've actually lived here my whole life. I was born at the old Iron Mountain hospital. My parents lived a few blocks down the road. Growing up, I went to Iron Mountain High School. 

I started at Bay College, but that was when they used buildings in Kingsford. It wasn't nice, or beautiful like it is today, but it was ideal because I did two and a half years there. I started with some general courses, and I was not sure what I wanted to do. Do I want to spend the money? Do I want to move? So, it worked out really well for me. I worked and paid for all of it.  

I feel like I've always wanted to be a teacher. I mean, as a child, I was always playing school, and I always felt like I wanted to do something. It's always stuck so I decided to go to Northern Michigan University for Elementary Education. 

After four years at Northern, I did some subbing in the area, and I moved downstate Michigan for a little while where I did some long-term subbing at a middle school in Big Rapids. I moved back here to a little bit more subbing, and then I worked at Norway-Vulcan Area Schools for six years. I was the Title One teacher and that is where I discovered a love for the small group setting. 

I stayed home with my kids for a few years before I realized I wanted to get back in elementary school. It's my fifth year at Woodland Elementary in Kingsford. 

Working at Breitung Township Schools

I started out as an EA at Woodland, which worked out really well. I was glad to be back in the school with my kids. The fourth-grade special ed position became available, and I'm like, I love small-group teaching. I kind of felt like, okay, maybe this is my time to do something different, so I'm just going to go for it.  

I have small groups throughout the day. It's typically under an hour, about 40 minutes, something like that. I love having the schedule during the day where you have different groups of kids. I just think it somehow fits me. I never really saw myself as doing that permanently, but I really enjoy it.  

The kids are in and out, so we're moving at a really fast pace. I'm trying to really target their goals for the year. It's not that I'm there to say, okay, we need to learn these skills. It's literally building a relationship first, building on the skills they have, focusing on what they really can do to give them that confidence and then really try to push them to work for those goals that they have for the school year.  

I focus on the small wins with them because a lot of it, I feel like it's not even just a teaching aspect, it's working on their confidence and their social skills and just building that relationship. 

You really get to know the kids. One on one. You really get to develop relationships with the kids.  

You really see how much they can rely on and trust you. Even the smallest things that you can accomplish with them are amazing to me. It just makes me feel really good to feel like I'm doing something, where you connect, and they say something to you, or something finally clicks. Even if it's something small, it's like, oh my gosh, we've been working on this. It's very heartwarming to feel like you're doing something for kids, and you don't know it. 

It's interesting too because I'll be in communication with parents or in meetings, and they'll say something to me like, you know, my daughter or my son feels this about you. It's just things you never knew. Getting to know these parents, they can trust me while their kids are in my room to really do my best with them and care about them, which I love. It’s really nice to feel like I'm appreciated. 

I know I work with a really good group of people, and it's nice to have that support.   

At BTS, they want to really get families involved. They want the communication. There's a lot of involvement in the community. BTS is always trying to attract more students and more families.  

It's such a positive environment students and parents alike. I think that is part of a small town, you know, you really do know everybody and there's a lot of support.  

The opportunity is there for people to help out and volunteer and you really get to know people that way too. Sometimes you have to put yourself out there in positions like, okay, I'll help out, you know, volunteer for this, but you really get to know other parents and things too, which is nice. 

Living in the Dickinson Area 

I personally have always stayed here because I love the small town. I love the community. I am not about teaching in a big city. I just think you really get to know the people that are around you, the people that you're working with, and it's very nice to have groups of people that you can really get to know.  

I have a son that is at Woodland, and my daughter is in middle school. We're just involved in a lot of things in the community. My kids are huge into sports and activities. It's very, very busy, but I love it. We got them involved and let them try all the things in the beginning, and then some things have really stuck. My son plays hockey, and he's done that, its probably been five years now. My husband coaches that team. 

Both my kids are in softball and baseball. Softball for my daughter, baseball for my son. My

husband has helped coach both. It has become even busier because we've joined some extra, off-season teams. My daughter is completely in love with ballet at Northern Michigan Dance Academy. That is her number one. She is so in love with ballet.  

As a family, we love to do some hiking, not anything crazy, but we'll go to Piers Gorge or Fumee, me and my kids, especially my son. He loves to go off the beaten path walk. He can go to camp with my husband. There are all these places for him to just have adventures outside. My husband is also big into biking, so road biking and mountain biking, and there are various trails and many more are being developed. My son makes me a nervous wreck, but he is into it, he's not worried about hurting himself, so it's just a little nerve wracking for mom, but I love that he likes to be outside. I'd rather push that than anything.  

We love to eat out. Local favorites? Country Bar, absolutely delicious food. Greenleaf’s is always just a staple. It's always going to be Greenleafs, too. I can't say it's Solberg. There are so many places to eat around here, I think that are so good. There's Carlos, there's Spiros. My kids love to eat out too.  

It’s very exciting to see the things downtown. There are so many fun shops, so many things going on, and you just want to walk around on a nice day. There are different events throughout the year, on Thursdays, there is Out to Lunch, things that really pull people together, which I love. 

Honestly, I think one of the best things in this community is The Braumart. I have honestly said to many people through our dance family, Northern Michigan Dance Academy, it's growing, which is amazing. But I just love the feel of The Braumart… having the performances there. It's just… there's something about it. 

About the Ford Addition Parade 

Our neighborhood is known as the Ford Addition, or Ford Addition houses. It is right by the football field. We have just such a nice community there.  

When I first moved into the house that we're in now, we were very close with our next-door neighbors, the Boyces, George and Gloria, an adorable couple. They have since passed away, but we were so close to them. They started this Ford Addition parade when one of their children, I believe it was their son, was young and his birthday was in one of the winter months.  

They gathered their friends in the Ford Addition, and they did a birthday parade for their son and went around looping around the block, and it continued, continued, continued. Throughout the years, there have been various people who have decided to take it over. About 8-9 years ago, one of our neighbors asked if we would like to continue the tradition and take it over. We were so close to George and Gloria that I was like, absolutely. I can't say no; we can't let this go.  

It's fun because a part of tradition is we print these little fliers, and my kids and the neighborhood kids deliver to all the mailboxes in the Ford Addition. It's a good way of just welcoming people. I like that old-school feel of it. 

We have the Kingsford Marching Band every year. That's the best part. The band directors

have always been so willing to be there to participate, to be involved and to really make it something fun for the kids and the community. They practice so much around the 4^th of July, so we schedule what works for them. We also have Kingsford Public Safety, and we always have a fire truck.  

Everyone kind of gathers at Ford Park. You decorate your bikes, you decorate your strollers, you wear 4th of July attire. We meet at the park, the band, public safety, and the fire truck come, we head out onto Hamilton, make a little loop, and come back on Cass. Neighbors will come out of their houses, or you'll have grandparents who kind of post along the way. They're waving and taking pictures, and we’ve got the band playing.  

We always have popsicles. We decorate the tables, and people will bring some snacks, some treats, some drinks, and other things like that for the kids. Then we all kind of gather, and you get to meet new people in the neighborhood, too, because, you know, you see them walking by sometimes, and you just don't catch them. Some of our neighbors who have lived there for a very long time love seeing that tradition being carried on, and they'll say, thank you for doing this. 

The best part is that all the kids and the community are invited. It's not just Ford Addition, it is open to the community, family members, whoever you want to invite. 

What do you like the most about living here? 

Honestly, I like the friendships that I have here and my kids’ friendships. We have some really, really good groups of people, and that extends to our dance community, that extends to our hockey family, that extends, you know, the groups we have for our other sports and just our neighbors.  

We live in such a nice neighborhood. My kids can go across the alley and play with my neighbors, and you feel comfortable.  

Also, my parents live here, which is really nice. They're only a few blocks away, and that's been really huge for me. I think just with my kids, I never try to take that for granted that they've seen my kids grow up. 

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About Breitung Township Schools

Provides quality education and life experiences inclusive of all students, engages in professional, respectful, and inspiring interactions, provides students with the foundation to live a more satisfying life, and positively impact the community. 

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About Ford Addition Parade

Since 1959, the Ford Addition neighborhood in Kingsford holds the Ford Addition Parade around the 4th of July each year. What started as a birthday celebration for a neighborhood kid with a winter birthday has become a tradition shared by neighbors and the community at large.