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April Volunteer of the Month: Deirdre Koehler, PTA and School Volunteer, Stuart R. Paddock School
Deirdre Koehler has what her nominator describes as “a passion to make Paddock the best it can be” coupled with “the passion to do the right thing.” Deirdre’s extensive list of volunteer efforts at the school dates back to the year her son Kevin, now in fourth grade, entered kindergarten.
Her first involvement was in helping with kindergym, not only with Kevin’s class, but other classes as needed. That first year she also became a room mom and she continued in that role through last year. When Kevin was in first grade, she begin helping out in the Resource Center. In his second grade year, she helped with special projects and was art awareness mom. One year she helped the reading specialist by reading with students to help develop fluency, and last year she helped in the computer lab. When staff members suggested it would be useful to have someone make copies, Deirdre stepped up to the job and now shows up two mornings a week for that task. “You don’t want to get between her and the copier,” her nominator said.
She’s also been actively involved in PTA, serving first as chair of environmental education, as legislative chair for two years, and this year she’s one of the PTA’s vice presidents. She’s a nominee for NWSC PTA legislative chair for next year, too. She also helps out with “whatever is needed,” which in the past has included book fair, Pantherfest, running the ice cream social, and doing waste-free lunches four times a year. She was an active member of the canvassing committee which supported the Feb. 22 referendum, personally calling more than 300 people when other volunteers couldn’t be found.
“I feel like I have a job, but it’s a rewarding one,” Deirdre says of her efforts. She enjoys being at the school because “I like getting to know the teachers and the people my son is around every day, being near my son even if I don’t see him, and getting to know the other kids, both in his class and in other classes.”
Deirdre grew up in South Holland, Ill., where she attended school. She earned a B.S. in accounting from DePaul University and worked as an accountant in downtown Chicago for two years and in Northbrook for seven years. She and husband Dan have lived in Palatine for 16 years. In her leisure time, Deirdre shares her son’s enthusiasm for baseball and basketball, taking him to games and other baseball activities. She’s become involved in Palatine Youth Baseball, helping to get sponsors for the program. She also enjoys playing tennis and exercising.
Deirdre will be recognized at the April 13, 2005, Board of Education meeting, to be held at Walter R. Sundling Junior High School, at 7 p.m.
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