Susan Kraft Almeida honored

ROSEMOUNT, Minn. – Seven District 196 employees were recognized for their outstanding service to students and residents of the district at this year’s Partners in Education banquet held April 16 at Eagan High School.

The District 196 Outstanding Service Award recipients for 2008-09 are Susan Almeida, first-grade teacher at Highland Elementary School, etc.
Susan Almeida
First-Grade Teacher, Highland Elementary School
Background in District 196
For 22 years, Susan Almeida has been helping students learn at elementary schools throughout District 196. There’s her class of first graders at Highland Elementary School who benefit directly from Almeida’s teaching. But there are also many other elementary students learning from teachers who have benefitted from her knowledge of curriculum and instruction shared through her work on numerous district committees. Almeida started teaching at Diamond Path in 1985, then went to Highland and Greenleaf, then to Tennessee for her husband’s job transfer before returning to Highland in 1999, where she has taught first grade ever since.

About the Job
Almeida stresses the importance of teaching the “whole child” and remembering that academics are only one part of teaching. “The social and emotional development of children is just as important as their academic needs,” she said. “They need to feel good about themselves and confident in what they can do.” The challenge, she said, is to give an “extra boost” to the students who lack self-esteem and confidence. “Many times it’s just showing them a little more attention or finding out their interests and building upon that to guide them in the right direction.”

Rewards and Secrets to Success
“The rewards come from watching each child grow and develop over the year,” Almeida said. “You look back at the end of the year and think, ‘Wow, look where they are now.’ Of course, with the younger ones, big hugs and (statements like) ‘You’re the best teacher’ help, too.”

What Others Say
“Susan’s answer is always ‘yes’ when approached by others for assistance. She willingly and with enthusiasm takes upon extra tasks to help her classroom, teaching team, school building or district. She is a true team player who will go above and beyond to help others.”
- Theresa Granger, Highland Elementary School first-grade teacher

“Susan is an excellent instructor. Her room has a wonderful learning climate that provides for a wide range of students. I know any child can be successful in her classroom because she treats every child with dignity and respect.”
- Chad Ryburn, Highland Elementary School principal

“In Susan’s case her outstanding work has reached beyond her classroom and school to a district level, in an effort to improve learning for all elementary students. Susan possesses the enviable skill of seeing the big picture and keeping in mind what would be best for all students and all teachers.”
- Kris Samsel, teacher on special assignment, elementary curriculum
Our CONGRATULATIONS to Sue for a job well done, you make US look good Suzie!

SNIPPETS FROM KHS65 CLASSMATES

Sneaking these quotes in here, since I just ran across them in an old notebook:

From PROM Magazine Feb., 1965 in answer to "What's your favorite subject", John Emerline said, "Physics, it's challenging & completely new & different for me." 1964-Jan 65 issue of Prom, New Years Resolutions, Bill Illing - "I'll be more careful when parkng my car on a hill, - had an accident once." June, 1964 Susan Trottman responds that her biggest worry in life is "The spread of communism worries me. It's a serious problem concerning everyone." She was very intuitive for our age! I think some would have answered otherwise! In October, '64 Sue Cheryl Hayes was our KHS PROM Reporter. OKAY, now forthwith to some more recent happenings in our lives!!!

Here are some snippets from our classmates received as responses to our recent email -

*Georgann Meinhardt Vehmeier checked in, still in sunny Florida and grandmother of an 8 month old girl!

*Barb Pinkley's Florida home burned to the ground in early 2008. She asked that we ask her friends to contact her to help her rebuild her email list. If you haven't corresponded with her in awhile & would like to, please post a comment to this post and we'll send you her current email address. She loves to correspond! Be sure we have YOUR email addy so we can respond.

*Bob Leonard, abr, crs, gri, 2008 Chairman of the Board, San Antonio Board of Realtors
President and Texas Broker, Allison James of Texas, LLCRe/Max Associates; Associate Broker

*Janet Zopfi - I am still here in Toronto enjoying being a grandmother. I have been retired from teaching a long time now and love it.

*Jeanne Goodman Shaughnessy here. Still living in Oklahoma City and managing a UMB bank branch. I have 4 grandchildren - 2 boys in St Louis, and 2 boys in Dallas and enjoying them immensely. Our youngest daughter, Meghan, was just married in St. Louis on Jan 31. She and her husband live in Sydney, Australia

*Nancy DeWeese Wonisch here replying from Vienna, Austria where I have been living for the past 18 years. Will retire this September and look forward to travelling around the US for a while catching up with friends and family.

*Gary Carpenter - I'm still living in Quincy, IL although my wife and I are currently in Hawaii on vacation. I've posted pictures on my facebook page. Bill Pape is one of my friends on Facebook. Enjoyed the photos from the KHS reunion in July 2000. What are the plans for the 2010 reunion? I'm already planning trips for 2010 but summer is free. As an allergist I take most of my vacations in the winter when nothing is pollenating so January 2010 is our annual trip to Hawaii, Feb 2010 is our annual trip to Steamboat Springs, Colorado where I snowboard and my wife Cathy skiis. My knees no longer allow skiing but snowboarding is just fine.

*This is Arlayne West (McManimie) Class of ’65. I’d love to be kept informed of what’s going on. I might have early onset of Alzheimers though… I don’t recognize any of these photos. ;-)

*Moira Haines - I am actually living in Seelisberg, Switzerland right now. Sometime I will write and explain and describe my very unique life. It was a big class! There are so few names that are familiar to me, but I am happy just to keep a bit in touch.

*Joyce Lay Emory - We live minutes from the beach and are loving our new digs. We had to close our real estate company in Reno NV due to the economy so we decided to move to what had been a second home in beautiful Venice, Florida (just south of Sarasota on the Gulf Coast)...We are managing an art gallery. Loads of fun!

*This is from Jim Huddleston. I live just east of Steelville on the Meramec River and am retired from Anheuser-Busch.

*Carol Kugler Ellis - I just bought a ticket to Israel and will be visiting my oldest brother and his wife, who have been living there for more than 25 years. They’ve been to the States several times, but I’ve not been to visit them, so this will be my first trip there. I’m really looking forward to it.

*Joe Marting....this is my correct e-mail address. Give my best personal regards to everybody. Go Pioneers!

*Jim Persons - I am now on the list of what I used to call "Worthless Breathers".
Just drawing on my 401K, and already applied for my Social Security. Good thing I had some rental property, or I would be a lot thinner. Have tried looking for work, but no one wants your skills -only openings - bag boy at the grocery stores, or greeter at WALMART. Nobody wants to hire somone old enough to be their Dad or Grandpa. It was amazing to see everyone at the last reunion, especially the ones with no gray hair. I tried coloring mine once & it looked like someone had painted the car & forgot to remove the dents. I was really amazed to see the Dart, we visited regularly when I was in High School. Also I didn't think I would remember anyone, or anyone would remember me. I 'd forgotten that most of us were together from Elementery through High School.

*Dave Lewis who works for the St. Louis Blues Hockey Club: It's been a long time since I heard from you, and it's a relief to know that you didn't lose me. I'm still doing what you saw me doing the last time we talked, and I'm looking forward to doing it for another 8 years, 2 months, and 11 days. Why would I ever retire from the best job I ever had? Who knows, the BLUES might even bring the Stanley Cup to St. Louis. What's of interest these days? Not much, but there is a youngster living at my house who is dating a KHS cheerleader. That's something. What else? Someone we know has completed a deal so that his property will become Don Robinson State Park when he croaks. There's another little-known factlet. - [Mssrs. Bahr, Emerline, Knott, Stevenson, did YOU know this???] See http://www.khs65.com/ Classmate Photos to see what Dave is talking about here.

*Debbie Williams Rice here. I taught at Physics at KHS from 2004-2008. It was fun being on the other side of the desk at KHS. Dave Holley was a wonderful principal. KHS was my first retirement job. I am now teaching physics at Clayton High School, one period a day. One of these days I will finally leave the classroom. [I live in constant awe of anyone who even gets Physics, let alone teaches it! -ed.]

*Joyce Moller Duncan-Mom & Dad are still living in their house on McLain -- Dad is 90 years old & Mom will turn 87 soon. It is really amazing they are still living on their own. Libby, my youngest sister, died about 8 years ago and her husband died about 9 months prior. They left behind a 19 year old daughter. I have joined the ranks of "retired" after working full time for over 35 years. Our daughter is 30 and teaching middle school & high school band in Sikeston, MO. We have a two-year old granddaughter, so life is good! I am still a Girl Scout! As a volunteer, I am a district training manager. I help with training adult leaders.

*Becky Emrich - I am finally retiring at the end of the school year--June 10 will be last day of 40 years of teaching!! hooray!! [And 44 years to the day since KHS Graduation!]

*Sharon Purdy Gilliam - our Eric, the PharmD, has accepted a position at Queens Hospital in Honolulu once his residency is completed at Rutgers the end of June. Guess where we will be going next year? It was our 40th anniversary last weekend, and we took a short trip to western Kentucky and stayed at the Lake Barkley State Park Resort Lodge. (Kentucky really does have nice parks throughout the state.) [Congrats to Sharon & Sam! I was fortunate to visit them not too long ago, their back yard looks out onto a KY horse farm, gorgeous green expanse & beautiful horses! -ed.]

*Sharon Merritt Minter - I am happy to report that after a nearly 40 year absence I have returned to Kirkwood. It's great to be back in Pioneer country!

*Doug Hayman lives near Route 66 in Kingman, AZ! Stop & visit when you are doing Route 66!

*Dennis Winkler is back to practicing his trumpet nearly every day!!

*Rich Mills -I will soon have made the transition from Director of Safety & Compliance to Director of Quality Assurance. I will be assuming my new duties because it was easier to find a replacement for Safety Director than Quality Assurance. We have been trying for over a year to replace a gentleman trying to retire for a second time. There simply wasn't anyone qualified that applied. Partially out of concern for him and partially because I needed a job change, I volunteered. As you may recall, I went from QA to Safety a long time ago so this is coming home for me. [Rich works for EmpireAir in Idaho -ed.]

*Bill Watts lives in Centennial, Colorado - If you've read the book you'll know why just the name of the town gives me goose bumps, but then I imagine it as it was BACK THEN! It's probably a modern city now huh Bill??

*Peggy Kramer Entenman is going on ANOTHER cruise soon...she will shortly set the world record for # of cruises taken in one lifetime for those under age 63.

*and here's one for all KHS65 women - Jack Toman is a grandfather.... think of the impact of that statement!

SEND US YOUR NEWS - REPLY AS A COMMENT TO THIS POST & WE'LL POST YOUR NEWS OR SEND AN EMAIL.

AND DON'T FORGET TO KEEP AN EYE ON http://www.khs65.com/ - NEW PHOTOS STILL BEING ADDED...SEND YOURS! MORE GRADE SCHOOL PHOTOS WOULD BE VERY FUN!

THIS JUST IN...

Here's a fun little item... Karen (Lowe) Adams' son Tyler got a call to be an extra in the new George Clooney movie "Up In The Air" which is filming here in St. Louis. Tyler got a call saying they remembered him because he was the one playing the guitar while everyone was standing in line to audition. If he doesn't make the cutting room floor, it sure would be fun to go as a group to see his acting debut. We'll keep you up to date on this one!