Teacher Cheryl Beckwith gathers with some of her fourth grade students on “Beckwith Day,” a schoolwide celebration to recognize her retirement from William “Bill” Roberts School in June. Beckwith—who is known for her creative, multihued costumes—dressed in white, and her students brought the color in her honor. Front Porch photo by Christie Gosch

Teacher Cheryl Beckwith beamed beneath her gingham bonnet, encircled by 25 fourth graders in straw hats, aprons, and other Colorado-prairie garb. Her William “Bill” Roberts students “were learning by doing—the way it should be,” she says, as the children fed goats on their field trip to the Plains Conservation Center in Aurora. They chopped vegetables in the sod house, took a wagon ride to the creek, and constructed mini teepees in the style of the Cheyenne.

Bill Roberts teacher Cheryl Beckwith wore white on one of her last days teaching fourth grade to symbolize the “canvas” of her students’ lives and her hopes for their flourishing. Front Porch photo by Christie Gosch

At dinnertime, the students lifted their self-brewed mint tea in a salute to their beloved instructor. “One, two, three,” they hollered, “to Ms. Beckwith forever.” She responded with hugs for all, from the students to the parent chaperones and the Plains staff.

One month later, after 53 years of teaching, Beckwith announced her retirement from the classroom. “She is the best teacher I’ve ever had,” says rising fifth grader Evelyn Salturelli. “I love her funky clothes and her stories.”

Beckwith’s vibrant wardrobe and rotating selection of coordinating eyeglasses and shoes are legendary. On the first day of school last August, Salturelli “felt happy and excited” when she spotted Beckwith in yellow and black stripes, wings, and a headband with golf-ball-sized antennae, urging students to “Bee the best they can Bee.” Beckwith kicked off each school year with a new theme for her classroom and a corresponding costume.

“I promised myself that I would give my students a safe and happy place,” she says. “Kids need to feel loved and accepted. I meet them at their level. And I’ve learned that laughter is the best cure for everything.”

In May, Bill Roberts celebrated Beckwith’s fun-loving approach with “Beckwith Day.” Students wore their most flamboyant outfits, and Trich Lea, who retired from Bill Roberts as principal in 2023, made a special appearance as the Bill Roberts Bobcat mascot to pie Beckwith in the face­—a unique retirement send-off and a testament to Beckwith’s exuberant and adventurous spirit.

Bill Roberts staff customized T-shirts for “Beckwith Day.”

“Here is the teacher of teachers right here,” Lea says. “Her success is her relationships with kids. She can take any student and get them engaged in learning.”

While Beckwith was compelled to follow a dress code when she took her first position just out of college, she quickly infused her trademark pizzaz into the classroom: She piled books everywhere, draped countertops with plants, welcomed students to use her collection of antique scientific instruments, and stuffed a dry bathtub with teddy bears. Over the years, Beckwith has also raised a menagerie of class pets including three puppies, two birds, and a hedgehog, in addition to the snakes and frogs that students eagerly transported from their yards to her classroom aquariums. She says, “I tell the kids, ‘I got old, but I forgot to grow up.’”

Beckwith attended Denver Public Schools, earned her teaching certificate at the University of Colorado Boulder, and gravitated toward lower-income schools for much of her career. “It’s the kids that have kept me coming back and the happiness you feel when you come into the room, their eagerness to learn, their quirky personalities,” she says. “To be able to touch each one of them is a gift.” She worked in Jeffco Public Schools for 35 years before retiring—for three weeks. “I was working in my rock garden and not knowing what I was going to do next, missing the kids,” she recalls. When Lea put out a call for an experienced teacher, Beckwith leapt at the chance “to get back where I belonged,” she says.

For many years, Beckwith ran a “classroom bank” to reinforce math skills and teach budgeting. Front Porch file photo by Steve Larson

Beckwith “spends far more time and energy at school than at home,” notes Lisa Cleary, Beckwith’s teaching partner at Bill Roberts. “She is creative, kind, loving, honest, and the absolutely best, most fun work partner I could ever imagine having.”

On “Beckwith Day,” former students returned for another hug. “I remember Ms. Beckwith dressing up as a detective and creating mysteries for us to solve that involved math,” says Sam Ruderman, a rising eighth grader at McAuliffe International School. Ruderman’s father, David Ruderman, thanked Beckwith: “You’ve been such a positive influence.”

Besides her math mysteries, Beckwith reinforced number skills for many years through her “classroom bank.” She taught elementary students to balance checkbooks and spend wisely in her self-funded class store. Most summers, she offered free summer school to those needing extra practice.

Beckwith’s passion in the classroom has been nationally recognized. She was named a 2014 All-Star Teacher by Major League Baseball, and in 2010, her class was selected to help open the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando. “I would have taught forever, but at some point, you have to step aside,” she says. She does plan to return to Bill Roberts in August as a math intervention specialist.  “I’d really be a mess if I wasn’t coming back.”

That’s good news for Bill Roberts, says current principal Jason Sanders, adding that “building lifelong learners and supporting our future mathematicians” is what Beckwith does best.