For 44 years, Link Elementary School was more than a neighborhood campus. Opened in 1982, it became a second home where lifelong friendships were formed, generations grew together, and students found support that helped shape their futures. On May 2, all of that came rushing back — former students, staff and families filled the halls one last time, sharing hugs, swapping stories and taking in the memory displays and photographs that brought decades of moments vividly back to life.

As the school prepares to close at the end of the 2025-26 school year as a part of the district’s Optimization Plan, the farewell gathering became a heartfelt tribute to a campus whose legacy will continue living through the people it inspired. Throughout the celebration, one theme surfaced again and again: for many families, Link is not simply a school children attended for a few years. It’s part of their family story. 

As guests arrived for the event, Cindy Kercheval shared that the connection became deeply personal.

Kercheval arrived at Link Elementary in October 1989 as a paraprofessional. She spent 14 years on that campus, eventually becoming school secretary, and then retiring after a total of 37 years in education. When the time came to choose a school for her daughter, she never considered anywhere else, Link was the immediate choice.

“The school became not just my workplace, but my family,” Kercheval said. “I knew the caliber of education that was being taught here, and I knew it would be the perfect place for my daughter.”

Her daughter, Alyssa Nobles, grew up on that same campus from pre-K through fifth grade, spending her earliest school years just down the hall from her mother. Today, Nobles works in education — a path she traces directly to the people who poured into her at Link.

“I now work in education because of coming to this school,” Nobles said. “I wanted to be the same person to others that those individuals were for me. Being at this campus really shaped me to be something more and to strive for something more than what we were born into.”

Inside the cafeteria, the ceremony reflected everything the school always stood for. The campus choir opened with a heartfelt song, teacher and Westfield High School alumnus Josh Hunt followed with a thoughtful trumpet solo, and pre-K students — led by teachers Allison Kiker and Martha Palmer — closed the performances with an adorable dance that drew cheers from the crowd.

“Our school really has turned into a community,” Link principal Tangy Stith said. “Families have said, ‘Hey, if you ever need anything, just give me a call.’ The school will always do the same for them.”

Stith arrived at Link in 2016 as an assistant principal. Following the passing of Justin Jones in 2020, she stepped into the role of principal — guiding the campus through grief and ultimately leading it with the same steady hand everyone had come to count on.

”That was probably the most emotional time for us just as a campus,” Stith said. “We all had to learn to grieve together, and we worked through that. Through those tough times we bonded as a staff and our families bonded together with us.”

District leaders took to the podium one by one, each adding their own piece to the story of what Link Elementary has meant — not just to the families in that room, but to Spring ISD as a whole.

“Her dedication to service helped shape the foundation of this district,” said Spring ISD Board of Trustees Vice President Natasha McDaniel, noting that the school’s namesake Joan Link spent 20 years with Spring ISD before becoming the district’s first board secretary. “It is that spirit of connection that has lived on ever since.”

“When we talk about legacy, we’re talking about planting seeds for a future we may never personally see — investing in a tree whose shade will benefit generations to come,” Spring ISD Superintendent Dr. Kregg Cuellar said. “While the doors of this school may close, its impact lives on through the success, opportunities, and futures of every child it helped shape.”

When the program concluded, guests spilled into the halls — where nostalgic photographs and memory displays turned every corner into a trip through time. It was there that John Chatman walked slowly, his son by his side, taking it all in. Chatman attended the school from pre-K through fifth grade and graduated in 1996. He is now a pastor and entrepreneur with multiple businesses — a living example of the people he said Link produced.

“This is a campus that builds leaders,” Chatman said. “This school taught us how to be fathers, how to be entrepreneurs, how to be business people and corporate leaders. At the end of the day, that’s what education is all about — it’s to give us what we need to lead. To lead is to leave a legacy.”