Friday Faces: Leadership

Happy Friday! Today we are so excited to bring you our annual blog series, Friday Faces, which aims to give our readers more insight on the wonderful people here at Team SLOCA.

Our new-to-SLOCA families may be wondering, “What is Friday Faces?” Well, it was a series started a few years back with a couple of goals in mind. First, it was a great way to put a face to the names we often see. Secondly, it was wonderful to know a little bit more about the people who, not only work at our school, but are a part of our community. This year, we asked them all for a childhood photo and gave them some fun questions to answer. Check back on Fridays for the rest of the SLOCA team!

What was your favorite childhood book and why? 

Jenny: Harriet the Spy. I identified with Harriet, and her journals and her secrets. I saw myself in her.

Amy: Oh my gosh there are so many I can’t pick just one. I remember loving Pippi Longstocking at a time when I was young and really needed to laugh. I loved James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory because I wanted to have adventures like what happened in these books. I loved mysteries and read every single Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy book. But if I had to actually guess, I would say that The Secret Garden and Little Women were my favorites because they were beautiful stories of girls learning how to become better humans.

Betsi: So many! How does one choose?! In terms of picture books, Goodnight Moon was one of my most favorites. Turns out, it still is—I mostly get overruled by my toddler, but that is always my go to bedtime pick. My dad read a lot to me as a kid, so any books where he read in different voices were also my favorites!

Kateri: I loved to read as a child and had many favorite books. Some early favorites were A is for Annabelle and the Flicka, Ricka, Dicka books.

Susie: Oh, man – just one? One picture book I loved was Katy No Pocket. I thought the man with the apron was so nice and the way they solved Katy’s problem – creative and fun. There was also a story about a magic pencil that I haven’t been able to find as an adult—a girl would draw something and clap her hands and she’d be in the picture she created—I loved the idea that art could be magical!

Merideth: I loved Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne because I always thought how lovely it would be to live in the Hundred Acre Woods and have Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Christopher Robin and everyone as friends. For a bear with “very little brain” he always said the most wise things.

Cozy: The Velveteen Rabbit. It was the first story where I truly FELT the pain of the protagonist. Reading that books showed me the power of story.

Brenda: The Tailor of Gloucester by Beatrix Potter and Pippi Longstockings – both appealed to my love of imaginary worlds and friends.

If you could be any Roman or Greek god/goddess which one would you be ? 

Jenny: Athena. I couldn’t decide, so I took an internet quiz and that’s the answer I got! Ha! Ha!

Amy: I think I would want to be Minerva – Goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare and justice.

Betsi: Probably Cupid—one part mischief, one part romantic.

Kateri: I couldn’t decide, so I asked my kids, and one suggested Janus, who is a Roman god, but the god who helps people with transitions, which they felt was a good choice for the high school director. But then he is also two-faced. Another suggested Hestia. She is the goddess of hearth, home, and family, which are near and dear to me.

Susie: I am torn, but if I had to choose only one, I’d go for Athena, because she has an interesting and well-rounded set of qualities that draw me. She is the goddess of wisdom and knowledge, which I always seem to need in great measure, she is the goddess of crafts, which I love (and wouldn’t mind being better at!), and although she was the goddess of war, she was known for her peacemaking skills. A strong, artsy, peacemaking kind of lady. She was also often connected to owls, creatures who fascinate me! (The other one that sounds fun is Hermes – some winged sandals would be nice and his wit and humor seem a nice change . . . )

Merideth: If I could be any Goddess I would want to be Athena, goddess of wisdom, poetry, art and war strategy! One minute she is reciting poetry and the next she is in full armor fighting battles.

Cozy: I don’t know! so I took an internet quiz and it told me that I am an Artemis. Does that count? (Down Home Blog Curator – anything counts!)

Brenda: Poseidon – I grew up near the ocean, love the beach and I am fascinated by life under the sea.

What did you want to be when you ‘grew up’? 

Jenny: I wanted to be a movie star!

Amy: Except for when I was about 6 and wanted to be a school crossing guard I actually don’t really remember ever wanting to be something specific when I grew up.

Betsi: I wanted to be a pediatrician for most of my young years—I loved kids & thought it would be such a rewarding career to help them feel well. I think I also wanted to cure cancer while I was at it.

Kateri: Many ideas throughout the years, but artist was a common theme and still on my list.

Susie: In third grade, I wanted to be a trash man. They got to ride on the outside of the truck and that looked fun to me! Later I wanted to be an interior designer, which I did get to study later in life.

Merideth: When I was younger I wanted to be a dancer but then I shifted my focus to teaching. I always loved children and knew I would do something related to children. For a brief time, I wanted to work for a humanitarian organization and live overseas. Who knows, maybe I’ll still do that in my twilight years.

Cozy: I wanted to be an actress!

Brenda: Oceanographer

If you could have any superpower, what would it be? And why?

Jenny: Peacemaker

Amy: I wish I could move at super speed like Flash. I always seem to be wishing for more hours in the day.

Betsi: Being able to breathe underwater—I wouldn’t be much use in saving the world, but I could swim with the fishes and listen to whale songs whenever I pleased.

Kateri: Whatever the superpower was in the old TV show, Bewitched, when Samantha could wiggle her nose, and the kitchen was cleaned. Very appealing. Invisibility and shapeshifting could also be fun.

Susie: I’m boring—like many people, I’d choose flying! To move quietly above and around the earth, seeing things from that perspective (and avoiding traffic), going places I can’t currently go, seeing the wonders of the world—that would be pretty amazing!

Merideth: My son Sam and I are reading the Mysterious Benedict Society and while they don’t have “superpowers” I think it would be cool to be telepathic like Constance.

Cozy: The ability to really understand – and then to help others understand each other.

Brenda: Healer of heart wounds.

Thank you to our hard working Leadership Team for contributing to this post! Check in for our next Friday Faces post soon!