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| THE 74/VIA YOUTUBE |
America's oldest teacher turned 102 on Tuesday, and is still going strong.
Agnes Zhelesnik works 35 hours a week at the private Sundance School in New Jersey, teaching very young students how to cook and sew.
The Watchung resident, who began working as a teacher when she was 81, has no plans to stop anytime soon.
"These children have to grow up to be a hundred first," she cracked to the Courier News of Bridgewater on Friday, when she was still 101. "I am going to stay as long as I can, make them happy as good as I can. Who could get it better?"
Zhelesnik teaches pre-kindergarten to fifth-grade students at the North Plainfield school. She is known at the school, where her daughter also works, as "granny."
At the birthday celebration at the school on Friday, her daughter, granddaughter and 18-month-old great-granddaughter were also present.
"She is an icon in this school," Principal Benjamin Fox told the paper. "Besides the fact that she feeds everyone and makes the school smell wonderful, she just makes everybody smile. They are always hugging her. It's like a family and she is the granny of our family."
With News Wire Services
