News Releases
 December Volunteer of the Month:
Pat Hollerbach, Conyers Learning Academy Volunteer
Ask people at Conyers Learning Academy where to find Pat Hollerbach, and the response will be puzzled looks. Then suddenly, the light will dawn—“Oh, you must mean Grandma Pat!”
The affectionate nickname by which she is known throughout the school was given to her last year by a child in a class where she was volunteering. “What’s your name?” Emily asked. “I’m Pat,” she told the child. “Okay, Grandma Pat,” Emily responded, and from that moment, no one at the school has called her anything else.
“Grandma Pat is known to everyone in the Early Childhood Program,” her nominator said. “She started volunteering last year when her grandson, Kienan, was in the Early Childhood Program. Her wonderful personality and dedication to the children have earned the respect of all who know her.”
And although Kienan has moved on to a preschool class at Jane Addams, Grandma Pat has stayed on at Conyers—and she plans to be there for a long time!
“My daughter told me that the teachers at Conyers needed some help,” Pat Remembers. “I liked it from the first day I came in. The children give you so much love and make you laugh, and the staff members are nice people to work with.” She’s at the school three afternoons a week, helping with bus time, facilitating children’s play, reading stories, and working with small groups of students. She also comes in for special events, such as the recent Halloween parties.
Born in Chicago, Pat has lived in Palatine for the past 20 years. She is the mother of two daughters, Erin and Karen, grandmother to six, and proud great-grandmother of twins. She enjoys getting together with friends for swimming in the pool at the complex where she lives, attending movies and plays, going out to lunch, and playing Bunco. “I stay pretty busy,” she says.
Pat will be recognized at the December 14, 2005, Board of Education meeting, to be held at Walter R. Sundling Junior High School, at 7 p.m.
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