|
|
|
|
04/26/08 |
         
|
 St. Mary’s Academy
Administration and StaffPrincipal
Mary Beth Thouvenel
Mary Beth has 19 years experience teaching at the high school level in the public education system. Her four grown children all attended St. Mary’s Academy, as did her husband, Bob. His mother, Elizabeth Heinz Thouvenel, graduated from St. Mary’s Academy High School in 1933, while her mother, Elizabeth Fitzgerald attended St. Mary’s in the late 1800’s. The Sisters of the Holy Names established St. Mary’s Academy in 1864 and Mary Beth is thankful to be a part of this tradition.
Accountant
Jorge Acevedo
Jorge begins his 11th year as SMA’s Accountant and his thirteenth year as our Maintenance Supervisor. He spent several years working at the Parkdale Child Development Center, the Migrant and Indian Coalition, and the Federal Head Start Program. Before moving to Oregon, Jorge was a CPA in Guadalajara. “There are so many reasons why I love my job, the staff are very professional and the kids are such good kids.” Jorge is bilingual in English and Spanish and says that he uses both languages daily while working, “ I am able to speak Spanish with both Hispanic and American families.”
Development Director
Wendy L. Palmer
Hired by the school in the summer of 2004, Wendy works on many projects simultaneously including the Welcoming Committee, the Grandparents’ Tea and National Catholic Schools Week. Additionally, she produces the St. Mary’s Alumni Newsletter and the Annual Report. With the work of many volunteers, Wendy also runs the Annual Appeal in addition to working with the St. Mary's Academy of The Dalles Foundation Board. “My job at St. Mary's is made easier and more interesting by the parents and their children. It is a wonderful community.”
Wendy and her husband Bob have two children: Jordan, who is in 5th grade at St. Mary’s and Emily in 1st grade. In her spare time, Wendy enjoys reading, stamping, scrap booking and spending time with her family.
Secretary
Pam Bonham
Pam begins her first year at St. Mary’s Academy. Pam brings with her 11 years of experience as a secretary at an elementary school in Idaho. She moved to The Dalles to be closer to her family.
Pam enjoys reading, gardening and being outdoors. She has three grown children and two grandsons.
Elementary School
Pre-Kindergarten
Renee McCabe
Molly Belshe
Molly begins her second year as the aide in our pre-kindergarten classroom. Molly enjoys working with the pre-kindergarteners as they begin this “new adventure in their lives.” She is very happy to be a part of the St. Mary’s family.
Kindergarten Jody Brace
Jody has lived in The Dalles since she was two years old. She attended and received her Bachelor’s Degree from Oregon State University. Jody worked in an accounting office for eleven years and recently decided to fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher. Jody says she “loves working with children and teaching them new subject matter.” The pre-kindergartners and kindergartners are so full of curiosity and eagerness to learn as well as to explore. “It’s been so rewarding to see the smiles on their faces when they learn something new.” Having been presented with the opportunity to make a change in her career has been wonderful for many reasons. The teaching profession is something that she has wanted to learn more about and be a part of for many years. “ It’s great to be in the classroom.”
First Grade
Libby Ballinger
Libby is beginning her twenty-second year as the first grade teacher at St. Mary’s. She appreciates teaching within a philosophy that nurtures the whole person – child and adult – spiritually, physically, emotionally, intellectually and artistically. She enjoys all areas of the early childhood curriculum; however, helping young children become readers and writers is her special love.
In her spare time Libby enjoys rug hooking, quilting, reading and Mahjong. She and her husband, Jim (a St. Mary’s alum), have one son, Peter (also a St. Mary’s alum).
Second Grade
Lise Larsen
Lise begins her second year at St. Mary’s Academy as our second grade teacher. Lise attended Catholic schools from her primary grades through her first years of college in Cleveland, Ohio. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies from Oregon State University in 2005. She is currently in the Masters of Art in Teaching Program at Oregon State University. Lise worked in the South Wasco County School District for 13 years; through the years she held various positions, including the position of pre-school teacher and that of the high school art teacher. Lise lives in Wasco County with her daughter Clare, who attends 5th grade, St. Mary’s Academy and her two sons, Jake, 16 and Ben, 18. Third Grade
Jim Mullen
Jim begins his second year at St. Mary’s Academy in the position of third grade teacher. As a child Jim attended Catholic schools in St. Paul and Mt. Angel. He later graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Elementary Education and received his masters from Western. Jim taught grade school in The Dalles for over 30 years. Interestingly, Jim’s aunt, Sister Marian Theresa, now deceased, taught in many Catholic schools around the northwest.
Fourth Grade
Kimberly A. Koch
Kim is beginning her 11th year at SMA. She enjoys encouraging students in hands-on curriculum based activities. This helps students become more aware of what they are learning. Kim desires to “motivate our youth to become respectful, responsible citizens.” One of the reasons that Kim has enjoyed her job so much is because of the students and staff, especially “how closely we all work together.”
Kim and her husband Brian, a St. Mary’s alum have two children attending St. Mary’s, Ethan, who is in 3nd grade and Emma in Kindergarten.
Fifth Grade
Paula Harding
Paula is starting out her 2nd year with St. Mary's with a bang. She will be taking over the 5th grade classroom this year and is really looking forward to it. She has her master’s degree from George Fox University. We praise God that we were able to fund this new position at St. Mary’s and look forward to the many talents that Paula brings to our faith community.
Middle School
Carrie Seitz
Carrie is the sixth grade advisor and Language Arts teacher for the middle school. This year, Carrie’s teaching goals include improving “reading, writing, and speaking skills for all of my students; and to make sure that my classroom is an environment conducive to learning.” Her favorite reasons for teaching at SMA include the great kids, small classes, and wonderful staff; this is Carrie’s seventh year teaching at SMA. In her spare time, Carrie enjoys reading, baking, fishing, and hiking with her family.
Kendra Starks
Kendra has taught at SMA middle school for nine years, prior to this she was a substitute teacher for three years in Washington and Oregon. She teaches 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Social Studies and Math. Kendra’s teaching goals include “challenging students, and teaching students to be responsible for their learning.” One of Kendra’s favorite things about SMA is that she can discuss religion in her classes, “I can talk about Jesus!!” Out of class, Kendra enjoys playing basketball and race walking. She and her husband, Del, have two daughters: Sohaila and Olivia. Both girls attend(ed) St. Mary's Academy.
Joan O'Dell
Middle School Leadership
Band
Greg Weast
As our volunteer band instructor, Greg puts in several hours each week teaching our students the importance of music! Greg has been at St. Mary's Academy for over fifteen years and throughout that time has traveled with our band throughout the Northwest and Canada to play concerts for the young and old. As a teacher, Greg’s goals include, “providing our students with the opportunity to experience music and excel in their pursuits of music and education.” Previous to his teaching experience at SMA, Greg taught for five years the public schools, one year in Alaska and four in Oregon.
Athletic Director
Colleena Sauter
Colleena begins her third year as Athletic Director with a strong interest in providing and maintaining a wide variety of extra curricular sports activities at St. Mary’s Academy. Many volunteer hours go into scheduling, confirming, and setting up for sporting events at the school. If you are interested in helping in any aspect of the athletic department from coaching to score keeping, please call St. Mary’s or the Athletic Director.
Library & Technology
Bill Noonan
Bill Noonan will be teaching classes in religion this year at St. Mary’s Academy. Bill has taught classes through the years and will be teaching sixth and seventh grade religion this year.
Spanish
Susan Erikson
Susan Erikson has been hired to teach Spanish at St. Mary’s Academy. Susan has been teaching Spanish in fourth grade daughter Ema’s class for the last few years. Thanks to a grant from the Walter Bailey Foundation we will extend this program to cover first through third grade this year.
Physical Education
Lena Macnab
Lena Macnab comes back to St. Mary’s Academy, where she was a student teacher in 2004-2005, as a co-teacher in our fifth grade class for the 2006-2007 academic year and is now moving on to head up our Physical Education program. Lena graduated from Easter Oregon University in 2005 with a masters in teaching. In 2005-2006 she taught alternative education to a group of eighth grade students for School District 21 in The Dalles. Her husband, Eric, is an alum of St. Mary’s Academy. Additionally, both sides of his fathers family have had a family member attending St. Mary’s since its establishment in 1864. Lena and Eric have two children, Ally and Cassie, who attend St. Mary’s.
Teacher and Instructional Aides
Kindergarten Aide
Jeanne Garrett
Jeanne has been at SMA for seven years now. Previous to St. Mary’s, Jeanne worked for six years at The Dalles Christian School and one year at Sonrise Academy.
Day Care
Day Care Director
Kristy Mann
Kristy has been at SMA for six years. Kristy loves watching the children grow. She says, “It’s very rewarding to see a child who has finally conquered a challenge that they have been working on.” The smile on their faces is worth everything to her and brings a lot of love into her heart. Making a difference in a child’s life makes teaching worth it to Kristy.
Custodial
Claudia Mondragon
Claudia joined the staff at St. Mary’s Academy this year. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her infant son Emmanuel.
Raquel Valdez-A
|
This site was last updated 11/19/07
