OCEAN CITY — “She was a teacher, coach but she was also everybody’s friend and a driving force for everybody in the community to be a better person,” Ocean City Primary School Principal Cathleen Smith said. “For us, this garden is about always doing more.”
The school honored Mikenzie Helphenstine on May 31, dedicating a bench in the school garden as a memorial to the longtime third-grade teacher who lost her battle with cancer May 4, 2022.
Teachers, administrators, colleagues and loved ones gathered behind the school for dedication of the bench, which sports the words:
Mikenzie Helphenstine
Teacher, Coach, Angel
‘Til You Can’t
Helphenstine was a standout athlete while a student at Ocean City High School and in college. She became a teacher and coach in the Ocean City School District and was involved with students and student athletes until cancer claimed her life.
Daughter Andi Helphenstine, a senior at OCHS who followed in her mother’s footsteps literally and figuratively — she and her brother Kyle were both students in the district and she is a standout field hockey player — said the gathering meant a lot to the family.
“It’s special. This school is obviously special to us — me and my brother both went here, she taught here so it’s nice for us to be here,” she said.
Choking up, likely not for the first time that day, Jane Custer said the recognition of her daughter’s passion and accomplishments is comforting.
“Community and school support, especially this primary school, has been unbelievable,” Custer said. “I try to celebrate her every day — we all do. This is a wonderful celebration for her. For the whole community to recognize her like this, it is just heartening for me. Even through the tears we celebrate her every day.”
Smith said Helphenstine would never settle for “good enough.” Using the Mrs. Helphenstine Helping Hands Garden as an example, she said Helphenstine insisted that it be used to teach lessons.
“We are going to release butterflies, but it’s not just about releasing butterflies, we had to have a lesson about it. What can you do to teach more, be more and be a better person?” Smith said. “That’s the type of person she was.”
Speaking to the crowd, Smith said the bench, donated by the PTA, “helps us to remember that Mikenzie didn’t just pass, but boy did she live. And for that, her life has given us so many memories too beautiful to forget. So this, right here, is how we will celebrate our Mikenzie’s memories and they are etched in the hearts of students, athletes, community members and friends. Her legacy is too memorable to never give up, always give back and to live on ’til you can’t.”
Fellow third-grade teacher Sharon Naplacic spoke about Helphenstine’s commitment to doing more.
Naplacic said the garden was neglected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Afterward, Helphenstine would visit her class and they would look out at the garden and she would say “somebody should bring that garden back to life.”
“Every time she came up that was the conversation until the inevitable came and she said, “You should bring the garden back to life.”
“I said, ‘Why don’t we do it? I don’t have a green thumb, you’re the gardener.’ But no was not really an option,” Naplacic said. “I went home and realized this was going to be a lot of work, but how dare me tell her it was a lot of hard work when every day she came into this building with a lot of hard work.
“So I told my friend, of course I would bring the garden back to life … and then the planning started and she said ‘You are going to involve the school and the children and the community is going to help and you’re going to bring out classrooms and you’re going to teach math and science and you’re going to have a butterfly garden, we’re going to have a farm stand …’ and the plans got bigger and bigger.
“At some point I realized my friend was never going to see the garden — and she knew that — but yet she wanted to create something for her nieces, her nephew to walk through and for children of the future to come through. Many of those children will not ever know who she was but we will tell them, we’ll tell them all about her.
“And Mikenzie was right — the community has gotten involved, the school got involved, the teachers got involved, the kids. What I thought was a lot of work turned into a labor of love. I hope I did her proud and I hope she’s happy with what we have here.”
Lifelong friend Erin Porter, a fourth-grade teacher who played basketball and coached with Helphenstine, said her friend was always busy with something.
“Whether it be watching her children at sports, furthering her career or volunteering for the city, she was always on the go,” Porter said.
But she said she thinks Helphenstine finally realized that it’s OK to take a break.
“I truly believe as she got toward the end of her journey that she began to understand that it’s OK to pause, that’s it’s OK to take time to reset and recharge. In a sense, this is a great reminder of that. To all of us who happen to share a moment in this garden and to sit on this bench, I hope you remember to pause, reflect and enjoy all of the blessings that are around you,” Porter said.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff