Dana Hills High School - Mast Yearbook (Dana Point, CA)

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Tom Riach Oz Simmons Kurt Speidel Nancy Williamson

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AKt« Teachers Find Falling in love may well be one of the best parts about being in high school. The syndrome was not, it seems, confined to students alone. Romantic rumors circulated and wedding bells rang for several members of the teaching staff in 1986 and ' 87. The first to fall was Ms. Diane Ingram, who became Ms. Phil Kams in a San Clemente ceremony in July. The waning days of summer united two teachers, Ms. Evans of the English department and Mr. Degen of the Math department, in marriage. Their wedding was held at sunset at the Ole Hanson Beach Club in San Clemente. Mr. Prestridge liked the beach club so much that he decided to tie the knot in the same setting: shortly after the New Year began, he married Ms. Ann Harvey, a piano teacher, and they moved into his newly remodeled house in San Clemente. Unquestionably the most romantic wedding date was that set by home economics instructor Becky Oppen: she and Tim Tice got married on February 14, Valentine ' s Day, in Capistrano Beach. All of these weddings served to remind students of a simple truth that is sometimes held in doubt, that teachers are human too. 1. Mark Dressier, a former English depariment member, toasts the newly married Ms. Evans and Mr. Degen on August 29. Looking on is Best Man Jack Dickmann of the science department, who will be taken out of circulation this summer by fiancee Patty Smith. 2. Mr. Prestridge, along with his wife Ann, spends free time sailing a Hobie at Lake Powell. 3. Chaperoning the ' 86 Winter Formal are Becky Oppen and her husband, Mr. Tom Tice, who were married on Valentine ' s Day. I 56 Learning

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l liFin nge aumys Best Looks Back By every definition of the word, Mr. unningham of the science department is a teacher who is very special. Certainly it is a fact to which his students can attest. A disbeliever would only have to be shown Gunningham ' s award as 1986 Orange County Teacher of the Year to be convinced. He is the first teacher in Dana Hills history to be given such a prestigious award. Cunningham always saw a distinct beauty in nature when he was young. By the time he was a junior in college, he was studying •meteorology, astronomy, oceanography, and geology at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Following graduation, Cunningham was accepted into a master ' s degree program in geology. Before he made it through, however, Cunningham ' s life took on an entirely new course. I shall never forget the conviction of the moment when I knew that I wanted to be a teacher. I was a grad. student at SDSU when a poster, taped near my favorite study area, caught my eye. It was a request for volunteers to act as big brothers to young, fatherless boys. The program was called ' Project Share ' ... Beginning in the autumn of 1970, Bill Cunningham, geology major, spent nearly every Wednesday and Saturday at ball games, the park, or the beach with an eleven-year old Swede named Phillip. Soon Cunningham saw a new, instinctive feeling in himself emerge. He would ask questions about the waves, rip currents, and the way the profile of the sand had changed since we were last at the beach. I was not sure whether Phillip had curiosities and interests that paralleled mine so closely, or whether ray interest caused me to prompt questions in him. But eventually we were doing experiments on sand transport ... I could see myself molding his mind into the methods of During this same period, Cunningham accepted an offer to teach a section of undergraduate geology at SDSU. In no time at all, he began to enjoy teaching more than his own geology research. The choices I had made to become involved with ' Project Share ' and to teach the students in geology laboratory are two of the most positive events in my life. My future had looked bright as an aspiring petroleum engineer in the lucrative field of energy exploration and recovery. But, all that suddenly changed ... Today, Mr. Cunningham is a fourteen-year veteran of Dana Hills. He now gives the same care and compassion he gave to Mr. Cunningham possesses the implacable qualities that are necessary for high learning. — Mike Jewell