TREASURED FACULTY Gold Stars of Norwood Teachers give out gold stars all the time for a job well done. It is time to turn the table and hand out a galaxy of gold stars to a group of extraordinarily talented veteran teachers who will join Dick Ewing in retirement at the end of June: Nancy McGuire, Jay Roudebush, and Maureen Sievers. With nearly 150 years in combined service in the field of education, Dick, Nancy, Jay, and Maureen have touched thousands of young lives with their caring, nurturing, and engaging approach to education that reinforces the core values of the community. Norwood won’t be the same without them, but it will continue to be the exceptional school it is because of their amazing legacies.
BY THE NUMBERS TOTAL YEARS IN EDUCATION
TOTAL YEARS AT NORWOOD
Dick Jay
40
35
42
12
Nancy
36
25
Maureen
30
17
Maureen Sievers, Jay Roudebush, Dick Ewing, and Nancy McGuire to retire.
Nancy McGuire
Jay Roudebush
Maureen Sievers
Since coming to Norwood in 1989, Nancy has been an adored teacher for hundreds of first grade students and their parents. Completely devoted to her students in a loving and caring way, she truly understands each individual student and works to help each child shine in their own unique way. One of the challenges of first grade is how to take so many children at different levels of readiness and maturity, meet them where they are, and move them forward in a positive and exciting way. Nancy is a pro at creating a happy place of learning where each child is appropriately challenged to be their personal best. We have been so fortunate to have Nancy at Norwood for the past 25 years, as well as two of her 12 grandchildren, Kevin Keegan ‘07 and Matthew Keegan ‘12, daughter Sharon, and son-in-law Vince.
Jay first came to Norwood in 1990 and served for three years as a sixth grade teacher. He then became Division Head of Grades 4-6, and later Director of Academic Affairs. In 1997, Jay left to become Headmaster at National Presbyterian School in Washington, DC, a position he held for 10 years. We were thrilled when he returned to Norwood in 2006 for a second tour of duty, teaching sixth grade until 2010, when he tried to retire for the first time. Two years later, we lured him back as a long-term substitute in sixth grade. We are enormously grateful for Jay’s willingness to teach another two homerooms of “Rowdies,” and we promise to let him retire “for real” this time. Look for Jay on the silver screen and on television. He enjoys success as a background actor and has been spotted in Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” and the popular Netflix series, “House of Cards.”
Maureen joined our faculty in 1997 as a kindergarten teacher. After one year, she moved to first grade, where she has been ever since, providing an exceptional educational experience for hundreds of children. Having taught several other grades during the first half of her career (nursery school, kindergarten, fifth and sixth grades), Maureen found her niche in Norwood’s first grade, where she delights in the students’ sense of wonder, their excitement to soak up knowledge, and watching them experience such tremendous growth in one year. We are grateful to the entire Sievers family for their dedication to Norwood – to daughter Jennifer Sievers ‘97 and to husband Bob, who brought the now famous and beloved woodworking project to Norwood 16 years ago. Maureen is a talented, caring teacher, and accomplished educator, and we have been blessed to have her at Norwood all these years.
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