Faculty & Staff Departures Jeffrey Crane joined the Nichols faculty in 1974 to teach Upper School French, and played an integral role in the development and maintenance of the French cultural exchange program since then. Jeff played double bass for the School’s Orchestra and saxophone for the Jazz Band. Mr. Crane’s two children are also Nichols graduates, Becky Crane Mercatoris ’94 and Dan Crane ’97. Mr. Crane has retired from teaching and will reside in Buffalo. Corinne Damerau-Best joined the Middle School faculty in 1997 to become the music and chorus teacher. She has loved the freedom to design her own curriculum at Nichols and has developed many exciting programs, including an intro to guitar class, putting together themed spring shows for choruses, and most recently using current technology in Film Scoring and Piano Composition. She has loved every minute in the Nichols classroom and all of the wonderful students she has had the opportunity to share her love of music with. Corinne is also the mother of two Nichols graduates, Alexandra ’06 and Ryan ’11. Kristine Erdolino joined Nichols in 2008 to work as the Accounts Payable Clerk in the Business Office. She handled the processing of invoices from all faculty and staff members, managed purchase orders and invoices, and processed checks and distributed them accordingly. She also supported Mary McCarthy, the Business Office and Students Account Manager. Pat Hanley ’05 joined the staff of the Development Office in the fall of 2011 as a Research Assistant with the goal to survey Nichols alumni and analyze the value of a Nichols education. He also assisted the Director of Alumni Relations, Blake Walsh ’98, in updating alumni information. Because of Mr. Hanley’s teaching experience, he also served as a substitute in the Middle School. He substituted in all four grades in the Middle School. Mr. Hanley is pursuing law school at the University of Akron in Ohio. Ron Hoffman worked at Nichols as the Director of Facilities since 1994. He oversaw maintenance of the grounds and buildings, and managed the team that keeps our campus looking beautiful. Under his direction and hard work, he helped turn our world-class facilities into an urban campus of distinction. He was at the School on many early winter mornings to ensure the campus was plowed and safe, and he worked many weekends resetting the campus after events.
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Nichols School
Rebecca Montague joined the School’s Modern and Classical Languages Department in 1995, teaching Upper School Spanish. She taught all levels of Spanish, including Spanish 5 AP Literature, where she used her vast knowledge of literature and culture. Mrs. Montague was Department Chair for several years as well. In addition, she served as the Coordinator for the Cultural Exchange Programs for 17 years. She reorganized and revitalized all the exchanges, traveling to Spain, Costa Rica and even France. She was a member of the orchestra and served on the Minor Discipline Committee. Mrs. Montague has retired from teaching and will be residing in Buffalo. Stephen Moscov has been teaching Upper School Spanish at Nichols since 1979. Mr. Moscov also served as a chaperone to the Costa Rican and Spanish cultural exchange programs and was the Boys Tennis Coach. In addition, he ran The Buffalo News Kids Day volunteer program at the School, was a member of the Faculty Band and coordinated the Faculty Softball team. While he officially retired from teaching following the 2010-2011 school year, Mr. Moscov was a familiar face around Nichols last school year as he substituted for many Spanish classes. Whitney Nuchereno began teaching Spanish in the Middle School in 2010. In addition to teaching, she was passionate about Spanish culture and music. Ms. Nuchereno was also an 8th grade advisor, the Varsity Girls’ Tennis coach and the 7th and 8th grade Boys’ Assistant Tennis coach. During the summers, she worked abroad as the Master Teacher for Dartmouth College’s Rassias program in Pontevedra, Spain, to travel and enrich her teaching and knowledge of the Spanish language and culture. Ms. Nuchereno is now teaching Spanish at the American School in London. Kelly Ostendorf joined the faculty in 2001 to teach Upper School history. While on sabbatical in 2009, she developed and designed coursework for a new course, AP Human Geography. She taught Human Geography at the University of Oregon before bringing it to Nichols. Mrs. Ostendorf served on the Student Conduct Committee and the Mentoring Steering Committee, and was a faculty advisor for Model UN. Mrs. Ostendorf relocated to Austin, Texas, with her family.