Letter From The Principal: Parkway North Wraps Up The Year

At the end of the school year, our PTO hosts a wonderful luncheon for all staff and we use that as an opportunity to honor our retirees. This year we honored seven staff members: Barbara Brown (Food Services), Sharon Haseltine (Secretary), Dite Totarsky (Secretary), Pecola Powe (Custodial Services), Sarah Berk (Foreign Language), Joe Regenbogen (Social Studies) and Paul Reinisch (Science). It is humbling to hear the stories of people who have made working with children their life’s career. It is staggering to think about how many students were served lunch, cleaned up after, taught and coached over the course of one’s career. I heard several stories in the last month from our retirees of students who contacted them to say “thank you” and “congratulations” for making a difference in their life while they were at North. One retiree reminded us that one should not take any class, day or year for granted; time passes and before you know it, you will be at the end of your career looking back and thinking how fast the years passed by. What an important life lesson—take time to enjoy every person you meet, every opportunity you have. 

We also celebrated the end of the year with our seniors and with our eighth graders from . The Baccalaureate and were beautiful and will be remembered for years to come. It is always such a pleasure to see the seniors cross the stage to receive their diplomas and know that they have amazing potential to change the world. One week after the seniors crossed the stage, I was welcoming our newest Vikings from NEMS—the Class of 2016! We are excited to have a new group of students who already have done so much to help others and to set a positive tone in their school. I look forward to their continued enthusiasm and leadership.

I want to bid a fond farewell (hopefully not goodbye!) to those families who have graduated their last son or daughter from . I know your life will fill with plenty of other things but I hope you continue to come to North for athletic and fine arts events and of course, to fill us in on the news of your graduate!

I hope you have summer plans that include reading and spending time with family and friends. If your plans include traveling, be safe. 

Sincerely,

Jenny Marquart