Shuffling through family photos, Berna Hester says one can be found of her in the yard of her home in Harlan. Cardboard boxes are scattered around the grass and children are sitting at them as if they were desks while she stands in the front of what is a makeshift classroom.

“When I was 3 years old, my favorite thing to play was school,” she said.

Decades later, school still is one of her favorite things.