News of the School Summer 2013 Park Tudor School
Brianna, as student co-chair of this year’s Habitat for Humanity build, helped to raise $70,000 for the Park Tudor project and coordinated student volunteers. As a summer intern at the Civic Theatre, Abby was in charge of a service project for the theatre’s Young Adult group. She raised funds to support fine-arts and music classes at the nearly all-Spanish-speaking Catholic School, St. Philip Neri.
• Katie Kortepeter ’13 was selected as Park Tudor’s candidate for the Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizen Award. Katie took part in the DAR essay competition and was honored at a luncheon hosted by the Jonathan Jennings Chapter of the DAR. • Seventh-graders went to work for the community on March 22 during the Park
Tudor 7th Grade Service Day. The students volunteered at Gleaner’s Food Bank, St. Vincent DePaul, Hollis Adams Foundation, Down Syndrome Indiana and Joy’s House. The goal of Service Day is to give students real-life opportunities to learn the value and importance of helping others while providing a team-building opportunity. The day was planned through a partnership with the Joseph Maley Foundation.
Five faculty members retire at end of year
We honor five faculty members who
retired at the end of the school year after stellar careers at Park Tudor. Tony Onstott, Sally Dreyer, Dr. Diane Hamstra, Paul Nordby and Barb Epperson contributed a total of 120 years of service to our school. After a 47-year career at Park Tudor, it is nearly impossible to find an area of the school that Tony Onstott has not touched. He began teaching seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade math at Tudor Hall in 1966, then joined the math faculty at Park Tudor at the time of the merger in 1970, teaching Middle and Upper School math. He also coached Middle School tennis and ran the school bookstore. For 22 years, Tony spent his summers as a teacher leader/chaperone with the People to People international student travel program. Onstott retired from teaching in 1999, but has continued to put his math talents to good use as a part-time assistant in the Business Office. He also has managed the school archives. In retirement, he plans to continue pursuing his wide variety of interests, including travel, gardening, cooking and home-renovation projects. A reception was held in his honor on July 10 in the Wood Room, where his photo was added to the “Distinguished Service Wall of Fame.” The display honors Park Tudor employees who served the school for 30 or more years. After celebrating their 25th anniversaries at Park Tudor this year, Upper School English teacher Dr. Diane Hamstra and Band teacher and Director Paul Nordby also have decided it’s time to retire. Diane plans to pursue her many interests and enjoy being a grandmother while Paul, known by his students for
From top left: Tony Onstott, Paul Nordby, Dr. Diane Hamstra, Sally Dreyer and Barb Epperson
greeting them at the door of his classroom every day, will devote his time to his bassoon repair business. Dr. Hamstra was at the forefront of using technology to help her Upper School English students improve their writing and
reading skills. She focused on providing them with strategies to develop their ideas in writing, navigate difficult texts, and support their opinions with research. She also focused on the importance of grammar in writing.
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