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

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All In A Day’s Work Alone in their offices with papers stacked so high you can barely see the desk buried beneath is frequent- ly the way we see our ad- ministrators. Their dedica- tion often remains unno- ticed by those traveling the halls of STA. Yet, they are there, Sr. Barbara Ver- heyen, Sr. Pat Clement, and Ms. Faith Wilson, constant- ly maintaining order in a school with over five hun- dred teenage girls. School quite simply would not go on without the integral jobs they do so well. A better view of an administrator’s daily life comes from Ms. Wilson, who explained the diversity of her job. My least favorite thing is ask- ing students to make a school change because they are having trouble with our academic program. I always know it's realy traumatic and it makes me feel real bad, even though I know it’s for the best.” Flowever, there is a posi- tive side to the job, too. My favorite thing is work- ing with the teachers and developing programs for the school. It's enjoyable and challenging working with the STA faculty, and for the most part I really like my job.” It becomes clear that the duties of the ad- ministrators are not easy but for them it’s all in a day’s work. Above: Mr. Wilson enjoys receiv- Top: Mrs. Wilson, sporting an STA ing a congratulatory phone call sweatshirt and gold lei, shows up to from a pleased parent. support the Stars. 2$

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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

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Left: Sr. Barbara Verheyen listens to a suggestion from Sr. Harriet Below: Sr. Pat Clement prepares Koutsoumpas and Mr. Land. the gym for an all-school assembly. Left: Sr. Pat Clement, supporting the Red Cross Blood Mobile willing- ly prepares to donate blood. Above: Sr. Barbara Verheyen shows her appreciation for the out- standing basketball coaching of Jim McMurray. 29