They're Back...
Former and longtime PDS/USN faculty and staff reminisce and share a meal in USN’s auditorium.
It bears repeating that a central strength of USN is its teachers, and the recent gathering made clear that the school has long enjoyed a superior faculty. Though some of the teachers had not worked at USN in decades, the school remains a center piece for each of their lives. They were all curious about where USN is now and where it is heading and had opinions about both.
As in earlier years, this gathering of the school’s paladins was the result of Janet Schneider’s tireless effort. This year she brought in John Colozzi, who worked at the school from 72 through 76, as the keynote speaker (there is an article about him and his meeting with former students in this newsletter). Thanks to Dolores Nicholson, she also staged a very idiosyncratic reinterpretation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs that Dolores had first penned and staged in the mid-seventies.
During his speech, John Colozzi made two points that struck a chord with everyone in the audience. His first was that students will rise to surprisingly high levels if you let them know you think they are capable. His second point was that you never leave PDS or USN. In his own case this meant that he found himself still working out an idea for a history class decades after leaving while attending a black-tie event in a palace built by the Austrian Empress Maria Teressa.
Somewhat less far flung, but no less fantastical, the performance of Snow White also had two valuable lessons. Rehearsal helps and Gracie Allen does a great Flip Wilson impersonation.
A full list of the “hall-of-famers” in attendance is below.
Gracie Allen
Tom Bailey
Beth Baxter
Jane Bibring
Marty Bishop
Beverly Bond
Gil Chilton
John Colozzi
Connie Culpepper
Debbie Davies
Vincent Durnan
Betty Dysart
Lorena Edwards
Bobbie Grubb
Mittie Hale
Mike Hall
Martha Hooper
Denise Johnson
Karen Knox
Annette Abernathy Langsdon
Sally Lee
Jean Letterer
Pat Malone
Grace Melchiore
Norma Miller
Bob Moser
Delores Nicholson
Mary Ann Pangle
Carol Percy
Marcia Pope
Janell Puryear
Karen Roberts
Heber Rogers
Linda Wallis Sauer
Janet Carney Schneider
Mickey Setaro
Barbara Shirey
Anne Westfall
Betty White
Lucy White
Jane Workman
Back
As in earlier years, this gathering of the school’s paladins was the result of Janet Schneider’s tireless effort. This year she brought in John Colozzi, who worked at the school from 72 through 76, as the keynote speaker (there is an article about him and his meeting with former students in this newsletter). Thanks to Dolores Nicholson, she also staged a very idiosyncratic reinterpretation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs that Dolores had first penned and staged in the mid-seventies.
During his speech, John Colozzi made two points that struck a chord with everyone in the audience. His first was that students will rise to surprisingly high levels if you let them know you think they are capable. His second point was that you never leave PDS or USN. In his own case this meant that he found himself still working out an idea for a history class decades after leaving while attending a black-tie event in a palace built by the Austrian Empress Maria Teressa.
Somewhat less far flung, but no less fantastical, the performance of Snow White also had two valuable lessons. Rehearsal helps and Gracie Allen does a great Flip Wilson impersonation.
A full list of the “hall-of-famers” in attendance is below.
Gracie Allen
Tom Bailey
Beth Baxter
Jane Bibring
Marty Bishop
Beverly Bond
Gil Chilton
John Colozzi
Connie Culpepper
Debbie Davies
Vincent Durnan
Betty Dysart
Lorena Edwards
Bobbie Grubb
Mittie Hale
Mike Hall
Martha Hooper
Denise Johnson
Karen Knox
Annette Abernathy Langsdon
Sally Lee
Jean Letterer
Pat Malone
Grace Melchiore
Norma Miller
Bob Moser
Delores Nicholson
Mary Ann Pangle
Carol Percy
Marcia Pope
Janell Puryear
Karen Roberts
Heber Rogers
Linda Wallis Sauer
Janet Carney Schneider
Mickey Setaro
Barbara Shirey
Anne Westfall
Betty White
Lucy White
Jane Workman
