Teacher Has a Special Handshake for Each of Her 22 Students

A Kansas teacher has a unique way of greeting her students as she gives each one their own special handshake as they start the day.

Twenty-two third graders at Mueller Elementary School in Wichita, Kan., get their very own personalized, secret, and very elaborate handshake from their teacher, Jerusha Willenborg, every morning.

The handshake tradition began four years ago when one student wanted a special greeting.

“I just had a student who wanted something more than a high-five and knuckles and he kept adding on to it every day and the rest of my kids wanted one and it just hasn't stopped,” she told Inside Edition.

The students came up with their handshakes and she has her own method of remembering them.

"I look them in the eyes and I know their handshakes. I have them do it at least three times in a row so that it sticks to both of us," she said. “I do make mistakes, but the funny thing is the kids make mistakes more than I do."

The greetings include fist bumps, dancing, hip bumps, hugs and very intricate hand-clapping.

Before the start of each day, the students line up in the hallway to perform their handshake with Willenborg.

"It is special between me and that one student," she said. "That one student knows I care about them."