|
Our School's Board of Trustees 2007/2008
Meeting Appointees:
Polly Dunn (Assistant Clerk)
"From its very first days, the excitement of a fledgling Friends School caught my attention and it has continued to hold me and my family through all stages of the school's growth." Polly has done everything at the school from painting walls in the basement of the Meetinghouse when the school opened more than 25 years ago to serving as the school's head administrator from 1985-89; her children John and Robin are Friends School graduates. Polly also helped raise funds for the capital campaign to build the current school and was formerly clerk of the board. "For 25 years, Friends School has been a place where students can learn to love learning, think for themselves, and inquire of the world around them."
As Polly says, her career has "seesawed" between education and community development, including stints teaching elementary students and analyzing data for Penn State's Commonwealth Campus System. Currently, she volunteers as the Friendship Program coordinator and a board member with Global Connections (formerly known as the International Hospitality Council). Polly has a B.A. from Smith College and an M.S. in community development from PSU.
Mardi Frye
A member of State College Friends Meeting, Mardi has been associated with Friends School since 1991. Her three sons, Paul, Ellis and Mitchell, were students here, and she was a teacher at Friends School for three years. Mardi served as a Meeting-appointed trustee for the 2005/06 year and returns to the board this year in the same capacity. She was also a member of the 2006/07 Head of School Search Committee.
Mardi started her career as a naturalist at Shaver's Creek Environmental Center at Penn State's Stone Valley Recreation Area. Currently, she is a teacher in the State College Area School District, where she has been a classroom and elementary learning enrichment teacher. This fall, she takes on a new role as teacher/librarian in the Houserville and Lemont elementary schools, having just completed her master's in library science from Penn State.
Top Return
Bruce Knox (Co-Clerk)
Bruce's commitment to young people stretches back nearly 40 years as a co-founder and first chairman of the Board of Directors of the Centre County Youth Service Bureau. For the past several years, Bruce has tutored second through fifth grade students in math at the school. "Development of the whole child is essential to me. This is what State College Friends School is all about."
In addition to youth-oriented community service, Bruce also volunteered as an Emergency Medical Technician with Centre Lifelink Ambulance Service and as a paramedic assistant at Centre Community Hospital. He served on the Board of Directors of Centre Lifelink after retiring from active ambulance service.
Bruce and his wife Susan are residents of Foxdale Village where Bruce serves on the Board of Directors, clerks the Finance and Property Committee, and is a member of the Bylaws Committee.
Bruce holds bachelor's and master's degrees in chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Syracuse University, respectively, and a Ph.D. in Fuel Technology from Penn State. Before retiring from Penn Sate in 1991, he was a faculty member in the Materials Science and Engineering Department and in the Science, Technology and Society Program. He also served as Assistant Director of the Materials Research Lab on campus and taught humanities.
Campbell Plowden
"I love using words that begin with the letter "c" to describe what I think kids learn at Friends School: confidence, caring, conscience, communication and community."
Campbell and his wife, Yuri, are parents of Marissa, who attended Friends School from kindergarten through seventh grade and is now a senior at State College High School, and Luke, who's currently in sixth grade at Friends School.
Professionally, Campbell has worked with well-known non-profit groups like the Humane Society of the U.S. and Greenpeace doing environmental advocacy and investigations concerning whales and tropical forests. Most recently, he's worked with Amazon Watch and the Environmental Investigation Agency on several projects involving tropical forest conservation and indigenous peoples. Campbell is the founder and president of the Center for Amazon Community Ecology, a non-profit organization that promotes forest conservation and local sustainable development with traditional communities in the Amazon region. In addition, he's active with State College Friends Meeting and helps lead conflict resolution workshops in the Huntingdon state prison through the Alternatives to Violence Project. He also sits on the board of the International Friendship House. Campbell earned a B.A. in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in Ecology from Penn State.
Top Return
Beth Resko
Beth is beginning her third year as a trustee and her connections to the school run deep. Her partner taught at the school when it was still in the basement of State College Friends Meeting, where Beth is a member. And she is the parent of two children currently enrolled in the school. "Watching my children just about trip over one another to get on the bus in order to be early to school and then seeing them in the evening still glowing from their school experiences, I know they are spending their school days not only surrounded by learning but also by love. I give thanks for all those who have made and are making Friends School-and my children's attendance there-possible."
Beth is a licensed clinical social worker in practice in State College. Prior to that, she worked for Children and Youth Services of Allegheny County and as executive director of the Centre County Women's Resource Center. She has a B.A. in Psychology from Brandeis University and an M.S.W. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Mark Shaw
"I just wish that this Friends School had started in time for our five children to attend; but either our children were too early or the school started too late!" Mark and his wife Mardy were instrumental in the school's founding more than 25 years ago and remain committed supporters-whether serving as trustees, attending school events, or pitching in with grounds keeping and other chores. The Shaws recently moved to Foxdale Village.
Mark earned a B.A. in Sociology from Earlham College in 1945. He attended Yale Divinity School and spent four years performing relief work in China with the American Friends Service Committee. Mark also holds bachelor's and master's degrees in Agricultural Engineering from Penn State. He served on the faculty in Agricultural Engineering for 40 years, retiring in 1998. Additional international work includes four years as an agricultural advisor in India and a year as a visiting professor in China.
Top Return
At-Large Appointees:
Mary Boutselis
Although new to the Board of Trustees, Mary has been part of the Friends School community since her son Will, who is currently in the 6th grade, enrolled in 2002. Mary says, "The school supports its children as individuals but can clearly be a strong, shaping influence. Will was born with a compassionate heart and the school nurtures that. I am grateful that he has grown to appreciate and accept differences among people and to see those differences without judgmental eyes." She feels strongly about being actively involved in the Friend's School community precisely because it is a "community" and not simply a school. She has been a class parent and worked on various fundraising activities. Last year, she was a member of the Head of School Search Advisory Committee and the board's ad hoc Marketing and Enrollment Committee. Mary and her family are regular attenders at State College Friends Meeting.
Mary is a clinical psychologist who enjoys teaching and training graduate students in the Department of Psychology at Penn State. She also has a part-time private practice. She earned her bachelor's degree at Kenyon College in Ohio and her master's and Ph.D. at the University of Southern California. She enjoys gardening, traveling, hiking and biking and is an avid practitioner of Soto Zen Buddhism.
Joanne Green (Co-Clerk)
Joanne's son Michael attended Friends School from kindergarten through eighth grade, graduating in 2004. Joanne's first experience with the school was somewhat accidental. "I was drawn to the school by the radiance of the teachers and the children I saw each day in the park near the Meetinghouse (when some classes were still housed there) when Michael was little. That spark still shines through in Michael and his Friends School friends now that they're in high school: they're thoughtful, respectful, self-confident, and self-directed."
Joanne completed a previous six-year stint as a trustee, and she served as clerk or co-clerk of the Fun Fair for several years. She also clerked the 2000/01, 2005/06 and 2006/07 Head of School Search Committees.
A resident of State College since 1975, Joanne works with her husband, Mike, in Penn State's Department of Nutritional Sciences. She earned bachelor's and master's degrees in biochemistry and nutritional biochemistry at Cornell.
Top Return
Beth Saxon Giles
"I continue to be impressed with the warmth and confidence SCFS instills in its students, from the just-beginning kindergartner to the eighth grader ready to face the big high school."
When Beth and her family moved to State College in 2000, her daughter Devin enrolled in SCFS's 4th grade. Devin is now an 11th grader at State High, while her brother Benjamin is in 4th grade at Friends School. Before joining the Friends School Board last year, Beth had already been an active parent volunteer at SCFS. In addition, when Benjamin attended preschool at the Cooperative Playschool, Beth served on their board.
Beth holds undergraduate degrees in Art History from Swarthmore College and Computer Science from the University of Maryland. She has worked in database and information system design and implementation.
Heather Jordan
When the Jordan family moved to State College from the Boston area during the winter of 2005, Friends School offered a welcoming, stimulating, and nurturing environment for Heather's children in this important time of transition. Twins Phoebe and Walker graduated from Friends School in 2007 and will be attending State High this fall; their brother Douglas will be in 5th grade. Although this will be her first year as a trustee, Heather and her husband John are actively involved at the school. Heather has served as a class parent and worked on fundraising events as a member of the board's Development Committee.
Heather graduated from Harvard College with a joint degree in History and Literature. After spending two years at Phillips Academy, Andover and Middlesex School teaching English, she completed her Ph.D. in British and Irish literature at the University of Michigan. Since then, she has taught writing at Harvard, Wellesley, and now, the English Department at Penn State. She has published a scholarly book, academic articles and poems. Most recently, she has been writing creative non-fiction as well as poetry.
Top Return
Margaret 'Meg' Moose (Treasurer)
"Everyone at Friends School cares for and believes so deeply in each student that it creates an extraordinary learning environment." Meg and her husband Clark have a son Nicholas in 3rd grade and a preschool-age daughter, Lauren. The family moved to State College in 1990 to be closer to Meg's parents, who live in town, and grandparents, who are residents of Foxdale Village. A native of Connecticut, Meg holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Albright College. She works as a commercial real estate lender at M&T Bank.
Meg is active in the Friends School community as a parent and participant in fundraising events; as a trustee, she contributes her professional skills by serving as treasurer and clerk of the Finance Committee, and she served on the 2005/06 Head of School Search Committee. Meg is also active in the community. She is an alumna of Leadership Centre County, past president and member of the State College Area Family YMCA Board of Directors, past president and active member of the State College Downtown Rotary Club, a member of Young Leaders Group of the Centre County United Way, and a Sunday School teacher at her church.
Ralph Oliva
Ralph and his wife, Kat, have one son at Friends School, Christopher (7th grade) and a recent Friends School graduate, Mathew, currently a 10th grader at State High. Along with Kat, he has worked on many school fundraisers, including the Goods and Services Auction and Fun Fair. "Friends School is a warm place of peace, where children are invested with a combination of outstanding academics and the Quaker principles of equality, community, simplicity, and harmony. The school, its faculty and the students it educates and nurtures are treasures in this community and the world."
Ralph is a Professor of Marketing and Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM) at Penn State. Before coming to Penn State, he was worldwide Brand Manager/Vice President of Market Communications for Texas Instruments, headquartered in Dallas. Ralph has a Ph.D. in Solid-State Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Top Return |
