St Teresas Academy - Avila Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

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Below: Mr. Bill Land welcomed the opportunity to display his softball skills for his new friends at STA. Right: Taking a break. Mr. Bill Land and Ms. Terri Diekmann discuss business department concerns. 26 Above: Looking over his class notes. Mr. Brad Read prepares for his next class. Right: Updating students' files keeps Ms. Joan Lodes busy in the guidance department.

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Students ... cent. and learn. It is a difficult job. To play both the role of educator and equal, a teach- er must be creative. They must present material in ways that generate enthusi- asm or at least slight inter- est. Often however, stu- dents are frustrated by the approaches teachers use. Laura Lyon, a senior, said that presenting something in a new manner was fine as long as the teacher was pre- pared for the inevitable. What did Laura see as the inevitable outcome of teachers trying new things? Some students won't be pleased or interested, or that the results will not be what the teacher expected. Ideals. We all have ideals. We all expect certain things, but more important- ly we all want certain things. So, what kind of teachers do students want? Teachers, who are knowl- edgeable people who can speak about both the sub- ject and a personal problem with candor. This personal aspect of our teachers have given students here the Above left: Ms. Sue Matz explains a confusing, Spanish sentence to Jennifer Cocherl. Left: Sr. Sue An- drew converses with students about sewing techniques. feeling that they are both being prepared for college and for life. The environ- ment is personal, yet chal- lenging. It provides a vari- ety of subjects, and a vari- ety of people. It is not requirement-ridden, but de- mands that each person contribute something. Our contribution to the school and the school's con- tribution to us must be test- ed in the real world”. Stu- dents feel that STA does prepare them for the real world. It provides them with independence as wom- en and as critical viewers of society. STA provides, ac- cording to students, not only the facts that are nec- essary for life, but the val- ues as well. Each of us has a difficult life experience. That doesn't make anyone bet- ter,” says Laura. None of us is better than the other. Teachers and students are each a little of both. Togeth- er we learn and grow — but we do neither without some help from the other.” 25

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New Faces in the Same Old Places Most of us have exper- ienced the difficulty of be- ing a new person in a new place. There was the transi- tion everyone at STA has made, from grade school to high school. And, there is the move that lies ahead, from high school to college or a job. This year, four new faculty members who made the transition to STA were Ms. Joan Lodes (Guidance), Mr. Brad Read (Religion and Math), Ms. Terri Diekmann (Business), and Mr. Bill Land (Business). It is not too surprising to note that many of the quali- ties that attract students to STA also attract faculty. Mr. Read said that this school has a very unique atmo- sphere and that the fact that it is an all girls school adds to that uniqueness. Mr. Land stated that even though it is an all girls school, STA has the same range of students as other schools at which he has taught. He also mentioned that the 1986-87 year was particularly good because after having been away from teaching for several years, he was very enthusi- astic about returning to it. Ms. Lodes was also ex- cited about her job in the Guidance Department. It was a new experience for her because although she has worked in high schools in the past, it was in the ca- pacity of teacher and not counselor. All of the teachers found at least one thing that was difficult to adjust to at STA. For Ms. Lodes it was the lack of bells between classes. To Mr. Land howev- er, it was the modular scheduling that he needed to adjust to, mainly because he had never before worked with it. For Mr. Read, teach- ing high school students was new because in the past, his experience was with college students. Although the transition to STA requires some adjust- ing, the same things that helped us as freshmen prob- ably helped the faculty. And hopefully the transition was not too difficult when the outlook was enthusiastic, the community was recep- tive, and others were un- derstanding as they learned the ropes. Below: Ms. Joan Lodes enjoys the company of her new friends. 21