Quyana to Yvette
Thiede at West High School!
Thank you for helping me this year!
You have been such a great teacher
to me, you are awesome! I just wanted
to say Quyana for calling Susan
and being nice to me and giving
me a lot of opportunities in my
life! I really love your class!
-Anastasia Ishnook, student
Quyana to Catherine
Heady at Turnagain Elementary!
My son Gregory has attended the Pre-School
Buddy Bear program for two years and
we have enjoyed it tremendously. We will miss Miss Catherine
(Heady) very, very much. The Buddy Bear classroom is a place
where Gregory has grown from a shy three year old to a confident
five year old.
Catherine created a warm, friendly, culturally diverse environment
where we watched many children grow.
It is an amazing thing to see our
children learn empathy, patience
and acceptance, in a classroom with
children who have various developmental
needs. I cannot begin to describe
how much I admire Catherine and the
other teachers in this program. -Johanna
Kim, parent
Quyana to Linda
Yost in
the Language Arts Division! Linda Yost
is one of the many reasons why
it is fun to work in the ASD Curriculum
Department. She tackles tough jobs
with determination and she doesn't
quit until the task is finished.
Her work ethic is exceeded only
by her good humor. She enjoys interacting
with people. Her ability to see
the lighter side of situations
and maintain a positive attitude
is appreciated by her colleagues.
Linda's laughter is contagious
and few walk away from her desk
without gaining a smile. With that
attitude, projects with tight timelines have been accomplished
with diligence, style and finesse. I want to thank Linda for
being an exemplary administrative assistant each and every day.
-Mardell Kiesel, co-worker
Quyana to Susan
Diemer in
the Early Childhood & Elementary Special
Education Department! I say it
again and again, but I wanted to
make sure I wrote down publicly
-- what an inspiration and support
Susan is for me, fellow teachers,
families, and most importantly,
students. She works tirelessly
to make children with special needs
programs workable. Her special
talents and resources for encouraging,
training, and supporting teams
and families to develop programs,
to energize and touch souls, and
to keep people trying are truly
amazing. Without Susan in our district
and in the special education program
things would never be the same,
and I am at a loss to say how much
it would effect us all. -Christine
Zelinsky, colleague
Quyana to Laura
Kautzman at
Kincaid Elementary! I would like to
take this time to say thank you
to the staff at Kincaid School
for the years past that my son
was there and all they did for
the special needs children in special
education. These teachers
are great.
Especially Laura Kautzman who is a
great teacher and her staff who
works with her as well. They go
out of there way with these special
needs children. We should have
more teachers like this all the
time. Keep up the good work ASD.
Thanks again for everything. -Patti
Dooley, belated parent
Quyana to Belinda Sessions at West High School!
West High is pioneering the use of the AP Russian test in the Anchorage
School District this year. The AP Russian test is the first AP to
go completely on line. The written paperwork for the test was reduced
considerably.
The technology requirements, however demanded many hours of downloading
files, testing audio, installing Russian fonts, creating links, and
communicating with the test administrators.
Belinda Sessions accepted all the e-mails with perfect grace.
She saved them, and when my computer crashed, she still had all
the information. She put in extra hours when the AP had a test
run back in January, sent important comments on administration
back to the committee, and has directed at least 30 hours of work
readying the lab computers for our test today. Then she agreed
to proctor the test, which lasted three and a half hours.
Belinda was a patient wonder through the whole process. Not once
did she complain or let the students
know that there was anything unusual
about all the time she has committed
to this project. She kept doing what
needed to be done, and on this final
stressful day, she gave the students
who went through the process all
the support they needed. She is my
hero! -Michele Whaley, peer
Quyana to Twila
Babos at Turnagain Elementary!
As the school year draws to a close
I would like to express my appreciation
for the efforts of Ms. Babos. I
have had the opportunity to work
in Ms. Babos' classroom several
hours each week over the past 9
months and have been extremely
impressed with her teaching style,
professionalism and ability to
foster a great enthusiasm for learning
in all of her students. The academic and social growth I have
witnessed in my daughter and the rest of the class this year
has been remarkable. Ms. Babos is a valuable asset to Turnagain
School, the Anchorage School District and the community. -Laura
A. Zettler, parent
Quyana to Steve
Toth at
Oceanview Elementary! I have a nephew
in Mr. Toth's class who has been
going through some tough situations.
He came to live with me and went
to Rogers Park which is the school
in our boundary. My nephew was
going through a very hard time
being taken from his family for
the first time and then going to
a new school where he had no friends.
His teacher at Rogers Park had
very high expectations in her classroom
and my nephew could not perform
up to her level nor handle himself
too well in that kind of environment.
I later had him transferred back
to Oceanview and back to Mr. Toth's
class. I was amazed at how he got
back into the routine of working
hard to get his assignments done.
My nephew told me a lot of good
things about Mr. Toth and how exciting
Mr. Toth makes learning for each
student in his class. I want to thank him for cheering my nephew
up by helping him through some of his tough challenges. Mr. Toth
always seems to be happy. He makes learning fun, he is patient
with the children, and he has a very big heart and he has shown
all these and more towards my nephew…Quyana! -Maple
Saena, parent, educator
Quyana to Kelley Carpenter at Creekside Park Elementary! Thank you
for being so supportive. I would not
be where I am today without you. -Kristy,
community member
Quyana to Dorothy
Oetter at Steller! Dorothy has been a caring
educational leader for Steller
for the past 7 years. She recently
announced her retirement and I
thought it important to publicly
thank her for being an awesome
leader. Dorothy practices life-long-learning,
a skill we hold dear at Steller.
She leads with kindness, compassion
and humor. She has an open door
and listens attentively to parents
and students. She has participated
in all of the extracurricular
activities and there have been
lots! I have appreciated her belief
in me, as a new parent, to lead
the school Advisory Board. I honor
her and say, "Quyana" for
a terrific year. -Cheryl Hilmes,
parent
