by Dawn Kane | Oct 14, 2024
Betsy can vividly recall the day in 1974 when she was hired as Hamburg High School’s sole art teacher. She shared her extensive portfolio with Associate Superintendent, Mr. Edwin Osborne. Displayed upon his office floor were four years of nude figure drawings along with other evidence of her artistic skills and instructional techniques. This provided all Mr. Osborne needed to know. Much to Ed’s relief, the interview was successful…and brief!
From that day forward, opportunities for expanded course offerings and leadership roles soon became paramount as student enrollments multiplied rapidly.
Yearbook art editor, literary magazine advisor, Art Department Chair/District Coordinator, NYSATA presenter, technology facilitator, annual reviewer and NYSATA Authentic Portfolio Assessment Institute contributor were some of the welcome challenges for affecting positive change.
Working cooperatively at various department levels and with other disciplines provided a wealth of perspectives from which to base decisions to further support student success and collegiality. The process of such reflection was more important than any summative product.
There are too many students to count, but so many relationships to recall. Fostering mutual respect was key while still maintaining that professional separation. Betsy laughed, cried, argued, critiqued, praised and became comfortably “still” with her students. Any teacher’s ultimate triumph is to eventually become unnecessary; able to breathe freely having made a difference between success and failure. The final product may have needed wanting, but the critical process of knowing how to learn was everything!
Of course, no one lives the teaching life alone. In addition to Betsy’s teenage charges, Betsy thanks her many mentors from whom she learned not only content, but intangible qualities such as compassion, empathy, patience and honesty; a debt that can never be repaid.
Betsy lives in Blasdell, NY, with her husband of fifty years, Michael, and their son, Sam.
by Dawn Kane | Oct 14, 2024
Carolyn Mooney (1948 – 2023) was a classroom teacher, building representative, union officer, and student teacher coordinator in the Hamburg School District for 40 years.
Carolyn was hired in September 1970 as an elementary teacher after graduating from Buffalo State. Armor Elementary School, AES, was her home for the next 33 years. She taught third grade for almost all of those years, most of them with her Level 3 colleagues Marianne Chiumento, Nancy Masters, and Carmen Kluckhohn. Many of Carolyn’s former students fondly remember her “Multiplication and Division Olympics” which helped to ingrain a mastery of basic mathematics.
In 1972 Carolyn, an ardent believer in the importance of student teaching as a critical building block in the development of effective teachers, joined the Fredonia-Hamburg Student Teaching Programs as a charter member. She continued in this program for 40 years, first as a cooperating teacher and a recruiter of other teachers, later becoming the program’s Steering Committee chairman, finally assuming the overall Program Coordinator role conducting classroom instruction for all interns as a n Adjunct Faculty Member of SUNY Fredonia.
In 1987 Carolyn was honored in Albany as an Outstanding Teacher Educator by the New York State Association of Teacher Educators.
In addition to her teaching career Carolyn was a longtime member and former President of the Hamburg-Orchard Park ZONTA club and worked passionately in that role to advance the status of women and girls in service and advocacy.
Carolyn was married to Joseph P. Mooney for 50 years and was the mother of Jeffrey Mooney and Julianne (Jeffrey) Senulis and the grandmother of Cameron Mooney, Anna, Patrick, and Nina Senulis.
Carolyn passed away on November 11, 2023. She is missed to this day by her family, her friends, and her many admirers.
by Dawn Kane | Oct 14, 2024
Born in South Buffalo, Rich attended Saint Martin of Tours Elementary School, followed by one year at Bishop Timon High School.
The Nassoiy family moved to Orchard Park in 1959, and Rich attended and graduated from Orchards Park High School in 1963. While at Orchard Park High, Rich was a member of National Honor Society and participated in several sports. He received the Mayor’s Award as best athlete in 1963. He was inducted into the Orchard Park Athletic Hall of Fame in 1968.
Rich then attended Fredonia State University, graduating in 1967, whereupon he had the good fortune to be hired as a Social Studies teacher at Lackawanna High School, where he taught 10th and 12th grade Social Studies for 3 years. Fortuitously, he heard of an opening at Hamburg Junior High School, interviewed with Principal Don Conklin, and was hired in 1970 to teach Social Studies at that level. Thus began a fulfilling career as an 8th and 9th grade Social Studies teacher, interim Assistant Principal, and ultimately, Secondary Social Studies Coordinator for the School District. Rich also coached Modified and JV basketball and football.
Rich retired in the year 2000 and subsequently substitute taught in the Middle School for several years. Both of his sons, Michael and Todd are Hamburg High School graduates. Rich is proud to have been a “Bulldog” and considers this induction as a Distinguished Educator to be a great honor and a capstone to a rewarding experience in an outstanding School District.
by Dawn Kane | Oct 14, 2024
Carolyn Mooney (1948 – 2023) was a classroom teacher, building representative, union officer, and student teacher coordinator in the Hamburg School District for 40 years.
Carolyn was hired in September 1970 as an elementary teacher after graduating from Buffalo State. Armor Elementary School, AES, was her home for the next 33 years. She taught third grade for almost all of those years, most of them with her Level 3 colleagues Marianne Chiumento, Nancy Masters, and Carmen Kluckhohn. Many of Carolyn’s former students fondly remember her “Multiplication and Division Olympics” which helped to ingrain a mastery of basic mathematics.
In 1972 Carolyn, an ardent believer in the importance of student teaching as a critical building block in the development of effective teachers, joined the Fredonia-Hamburg Student Teaching Programs as a charter member. She continued in this program for 40 years, first as a cooperating teacher and a recruiter of other teachers, later becoming the program’s Steering Committee chairman, finally assuming the overall Program Coordinator role conducting classroom instruction for all interns as a n Adjunct Faculty Member of SUNY Fredonia.
In 1987 Carolyn was honored in Albany as an Outstanding Teacher Educator by the New York State Association of Teacher Educators.
In addition to her teaching career Carolyn was a longtime member and former President of the Hamburg-Orchard Park ZONTA club and worked passionately in that role to advance the status of women and girls in service and advocacy.
Carolyn was married to Joseph P. Mooney for 50 years and was the mother of Jeffrey Mooney and Julianne (Jeffrey) Senulis and the grandmother of Cameron Mooney, Anna, Patrick, and Nina Senulis.
Carolyn passed away on November 11, 2023. She is missed to this day by her family, her friends, and her many admirers.
by Dawn Kane | Oct 5, 2023
Teachers who inspired me made me decide by my early teens that the career path for me was education, a decision I have never regretted. Hamburg’s commitments to education excellence have made me proud to be a member of this great community for sixty years.
To my three generations of “great kids”, thank you for the opportunity to live my dream.
