Making a Difference... Making A Difference highlights some of the many ways in which people give to The Allen-Stevenson School.
it takes a village An Interview with Heather Khazaneh, PA President
what would you say is your main goal for the Parents association this year? Creating a more “global” feel for the PA, with cross-working committees, is my plan. If I ask a parent, “why do you want to be involved with the PA?” the answer is usually “to meet others” or “to be a part of the community.” I want to make sure that they have that experience. what changes have you made to the Pa executive committee this year? I decided to restructure the PA Executive Committee so that we as a group can continue to build on the PA’s ongoing efforts to create community and provide the necessary support for that to happen. Two new executive positions were added to help encourage more of a team approach within the PA. Alison Bird (mother of Connor ’15, Ryan ’18 and Dylan ‘23) is the new Committee Chairs Coordinator and Kelly Hensley (mother of James ’19 and Alexander ’22) is the new Class Representatives Coordinator. They will attend meetings for the groups that they oversee and are available to answer questions and concerns from volunteers. Committees and Reps are going to focus more on ensuring the whole group has a chance to provide input and insight and is a part of the decision-making. how have you encouraged new groups of people to join committees within the Pa? It is important for me to have an all-inclusive community within the PA, so I wanted to encourage more fathers to become involved. I’m trying to build on efforts initiated by FASB (Fathers of AllenStevenson Boys). This year the PA has a father working on the Benefit for the first time. We continue to have a father helping
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The PA Executive Committee 2013-14 Elizabeth Mathus, Alison Bird, Kelly Hensley, Fredda Goldberg and Heather Khazaneh
with the Photo Day/ID Card Committee and the CL+D Committee. We hope more fathers will join us as time goes on. what are you doing to improve communication within the Pa and with the rest of the school? I’m sure many of you have seen me sitting in the PA Office with the School Store display behind me and the doors wide open. This is to encourage parents, teachers and staff to stop by and chat. I want to make myself available to members of the A-S Community and to show that the “PA’s doors are always open.” what type of “management” style would you say you have? I believe that the only way for others to be 100% involved is for me to be 100% involved. I want to support my committees by being there to say, help set up the skate sale, to layout the School Store, to hang art, and to count donations. I’ve held many PA roles in the past, from working on the Coin Drive and Mothers Day Breakfast to being a Class Rep, a library volunteer and Vice President. Having been involved in different ways, I can see how important it is for the committee members to have the PA President there to support them in their efforts. why did you want to be President? I love being a facilitator and wanted be involved in building the AllenStevenson community. I find it extremely rewarding and fulfilling to see a community grow and to be a part of it. I want to make sure that everyone who has some involvement with the PA walks away feeling good.