News Releases
 March Volunteer of the Month:
Mary Podjasek, President, Northwest Suburban Council PTA/PTSA
“Mary is the consummate diplomat, continually focusing on children and their families,” said her nominator. “She has a way of lighting up a room, and I think that is why people want to help her and support PTA and the district.”
Mary’s involvement with PTA and District 15 began when her son Richie, now a sophomore at Fremd High School, started kindergarten at Stuart R. Paddock School. From Kindergym, she moved on to a variety of committee assignments including ways and means, programs, and legislative chair, eventually becoming president. She was also a room representative and worked on teacher appreciation, the book fair, PantherFest, and more. While she was president, she worked with Principal Guy Herrmann to write Paddock’s successful application for the National PTA’s Parent Involvement Schools of Excellence certification. As her children, Richie and daughter Kara, now an eighth-grader, moved on to Walter R. Sundling Junior High, Mary’s involvement continued. She has served the Sundling PTA as ways and means chair and as a room parent. She is currently in her second year as Northwest Suburban Council PTA/PTSA president.
“I have yet to see her back down once from an opportunity—some would say ‘challenge’—to help children,” her nominator said. “As she develops ideas to this end, she is often the same person who willingly (sometimes against the advice of others) shoulders the burden to make sure that these programs are completed.”
Mary is a native of Chicago. She and her husband Mike moved to Palatine 13 years ago. She holds an undergraduate degree in accounting from DePaul University, and before her children arrived, she worked in accounting for Cotter & Company. She started her master’s degree at DePaul, and recently took a job as a part-time program assistant in a bilingual kindergarten at Willow Bend to help her decide if she would really like teaching. “I really enjoy it,” she said.
When her term as NWSC president ends, Mary will be moving on to an exciting new challenge. She has accepted the presidency of the Education for Children with Diabetes Foundation, where her first job will be to help disperse a $50,000 corporate donation in scholarships to 10 youth who are just entering college. The project will kick off with a nationwide media blitz featuring blues legend B.B. King. It’s the initial phase of a 10-year project that will continue to grant an ever-larger number of scholarships over that time period.
Mary has little time for hobbies now, but she was previously known for her cake baking and decorating skills. She’s won many blue ribbons for her creative theme cakes—a talent she discovered almost by accident when she was asked to bake a cake for 500 people for a Paddock back-to-school picnic. Both her children are involved in travel soccer, which means Mary’s involved, too!
“Mary defines what a true volunteer is,” her nominator said. “Passionate about a cause, showing compassion for others, and focused on the prize.”
Mary will be recognized at the March 8, 2006, Board of Education meeting, to be held at Walter R. Sundling Junior High School, at 7 p.m.
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