Student & Alumna Thankful for Teacher Advisors

Talia Kori, a senior at Palo Alto High School, says she is grateful for her teacher-advisor, Paul Kandell, who is also her Verde Magazine advisor, for helping her navigate the college application process and making the experience a comfortable one.

            "He's really organized. He knows me already and so when we sat down together and he asked me questions, he made me feel not so overwhelmed. He made it so relaxed. He was really easy to talk to, really approachable which made the process a lot easier. He seemed like he spent a lot of time on me personally."

            Sereena Ojakian, who graduated from Palo Alto High School last year and who is now a freshman at Southern Oregon University pre-majoring in theater, said that her teacher-advisor, Kaye Paugh, was able to help her both academically and emotionally.

            "She was a wonderfully helpful and experienced advisor. She was there for me and her other advisees when we were in a time of need. She was there for me in school and in my personal life."

Gwen Harper-Metoyer, a kindergarten teacher at Palo Verde Elementary School, taught for 30 years in diverse corners of the world, including three years in Spain, but when she began teaching kindergarten about eight years ago in Palo Alto, she said, "I thought I was in heaven."

            Her reason for so thinking was the 15 hours a week of aide time that she had at that time, which helped her tremendously. "Palo Alto has wonderful people in these roles. All of the classroom aides that I have had have been excellent," Harper-Metoyer said, noting that her current aide, Gretchen Mobley, is "incredible."

            Unfortunately over the years her aide time has dwindled due to a change in district funding policy. She now has five hours of aide time a week, which she wouldn't have if it weren't for PiE's contributions to her school.

            "PiE is the only way that we can pay for classroom aides, and especially at the kindergarten and first grade levels, we critically need more aide time. At these ages, the children are so young and not as independent as older children are," she said.

            Harper-Metoyer said that she also has wonderful parent volunteers in her classroom, but that parents can't be expected to fill the shoes of classroom aides.

            "Gretchen is my right-hand person and we've worked together so long now. She knows the units I've presented, where my materials are, how I like things cut out or run off -- you need that kind of person. Your classroom is so much richer if you have an excellent aide."

A PAUSD elementary/middle school parent wrote the following about her son's experience learning how to read:

            "When my son started first grade he was struggling to learn to read. He might decipher a word or two of Hop on Pop, but clearly he needed help. Luckily, there was an aide in the classroom who took him under her wing. She worked with him nearly every day. Even so, progress was slow, and the teacher was concerned enough to recommend him for the summer Reading Academy. But something magical happened. By the end of the year, with the support of his teacher and her wonderful aide, he was not only reading, but reading at grade level. Now he's in 8th grade and scoots through books on World War II by Stephen Ambrose with ease.

            Of course, this story could have turned out very differently. Without the extra one-on-one attention, my son might have become so frustrated that reading would have become something to avoid instead of something to embrace."

Since PiE is the only non-profit organization that can raise money for PAUSD school staff, contributions to PiE are one of the few effective ways that that we can support our talented and compassionate teachers, and see to it that they in turn are supported by dedicated classroom aides.

            As the parent of the once struggling reader put it, "The money you donate today may very well help your child unlock the door to reading or give a classmate the key to fractions. I give to PiE because I know it makes a difference for our kids, and because it is truly a powerful way to say to our teachers and our aides that we value and support them."