For the last 33 years, Peri Goodman has taught Blue Valley students how to make music.

But this year marks the last one at Lakewood Elementary in Overland Park as Goodman gets set to retires this summer.

Goodman has taught at Lakewood since it opened

• Goodman began her Blue Valley career at Valley Park Elementary nine years before Lakewood opened in 1999.
• She comes from a musical background, as both of her parents were also music teachers.
• She taught music to students in all grades at Lakewood, from kindergarten to fifth grade.

Watching students play music together has been rewarding

• She said that for her students, learning to play music is about self-confidence, teamwork and self-expression.
• Her time at Lakewood has shown her that she’s always a music teacher — even out of the classroom, she said, when she finds herself testing out items, like pipes, as instruments during trips to Home Depot.
• “It’s always about collecting new ideas — you can be so creative and it keeps you young,” she said. “It’s just a wonderful way to spend the day.”

Goodman considers her retirement “bittersweet”

• Her biggest takeaway from working with Blue Valley students for more than three decades has been the “unexpected blessings” that come from watching them create music.
• Ultimately, she said seeing the process of the students realizing they’re creating something together is the best part.
• “The music that they create, it’s all secondary,” Goodman said. “It’s everything that goes into the music that they make. Where they come, where they start and where they end up.”

Go deeper: Here are the Blue Valley principals retiring this year — and their parting thoughts