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State College Friends School
1900 University Drive State College, PA 16801 814-237-8386
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Our School's Board of Trustees 2010-2011 Meeting Appointees: A member of State College Friends Meeting, Mardi has been associated with Friends School since 1991. Her three sons, Paul, Ellis and Mitchell, were students here, and she was a teacher at Friends School for three years. Mardi served as a Meeting-appointed trustee for the 2005/06 year and returned to the board in 2007 in the same capacity. She was also a member of the 2006/07 Head of School Search Committee. Mardi started her career as a naturalist at Shaver's Creek Environmental Center at Penn State's Stone Valley Recreation Area. Currently, she is a teacher in the State College Area School District, where she has been a classroom and elementary learning enrichment teacher. At present, she is a teacher/librarian in the Houserville and Lemont elementary schools, having recently completed her master's in library science from Penn State. Betsy Gamble Betsy Gamble was introduced to Quaker education when she attending Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. When she was contemplating a move to State College, she was looking for a community where parents are involved in education and where students make life-long friends and learn values as well as facts. She has enjoyed being a Friends School parent since 2003. She is a member of the State College Friends Meeting and joined the Board in 2010.
Betsy earned her Masters in Library Science from the University of Michigan, and has worked as a librarian at SUNY Geneseo, Cornell University, Centre County Library system and the American Philatelic Research Library.
Bruce's commitment to young people stretches back nearly 40 years as a co-founder and first chairman of the Board of Directors of the Centre County Youth Service Bureau. For the past several years, Bruce has tutored second through fifth grade students in math at the school. "Development of the whole child is essential to me. This is what State College Friends School is all about." In addition to youth-oriented community service, Bruce also volunteered as an Emergency Medical Technician with Centre Lifelink Ambulance Service and as a paramedic assistant at Centre Community Hospital. He served on the Board of Directors of Centre Lifelink after retiring from active ambulance service. Bruce and his wife Susan are residents of Foxdale Village where Bruce co-clerks the Board of Directors and is a member of the Finance and Property Committee and the Bylaws Committee. Bruce holds bachelor's and master's degrees in chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Syracuse University, respectively, and a Ph.D. in fuel technology from Penn State. Before retiring from Penn Sate in 1991, he was a faculty member in the Materials Science and Engineering Department and in the Science, Technology and Society Program. He also served as Assistant Director of the Materials Research Lab on campus and taught humanities. Heidi Loomis Heidi Loomis is a Central Pennsylvania native and a member of the State College Friends Meeting and the University Baptist and Brethren Church. She is the mother of two young children at the Friends School. Heidi works part-time as a family nurse practitioner/nurse midwife for Geisinger. Her professional degrees include a BS from Juniata College, MSN from Yale School of Nursing and a certificate in midwifery from the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing. She is honored to be involved in the entire Friends School community. Mardy’s first introduction to a Friends school was in 1930 when she joined the kindergarten class at Germantown Friends School. As Mardy says, “I don’t think I realized how lucky I was until years later when I had some dealings with much more ordinary schools.” Therefore, when a committee at State College Friends Meeting proposed starting a Friends school here, Mardy and her husband Mark joined right in and have been involved ever since. One of them has served on the board almost continually since the school was founded, and they have both been incredibly supportive of the school through the years. They helped turn the Meetinghouse basement into a school (which opened in 1980 with 7 students and two half-time teachers) and helped start the library when the school was partially housed in the University Baptist and Brethren Church. It was Mardy who insisted that our present building include a “tutoring room” where children who needed extra help would have a quiet place to work. Mardy and Mark are residents of Foxdale, and Mardy continues to give extra help in reading to Friends School children who need it. Her professional credentials include a Certificate in Remedial Reading and 10 years of related work in public schools.
John Sheridan John joined the Board as an at large member in 2009. He looks forward to involvement with the other Trustees in the daily operations of the school. A recent retiree after a 37 year career as an educator John hopes to use his experience as he approaches issues with which the Friends School must deal. John has served in roles from teacher to coach, counselor to administrator and confidant to colleague in public and private school settings. Over the last 23 years he has served as the Director of Learning Enrichment and Gifted Support and Student Services for the State College Area School District. Beyond his work life John has been active in a number of community organizations focused on youth. His work with The Second Mile for over 30 years has allowed him exposure to many ongoing youth issues which impact our students regularly. John believes this experience will also support him in his role on the Board.
At-Large Appointees: Pam Adams, parent of current SCFS 3rd and 5th grade students, works as the administrator of the Refuse and Recycling Program for the Centre Region Council of Governments (COG). She was a board member at the Cooperative Playschool and coordinator of Friends School’s parents association for 2 years prior to joining the Friends School board. Pam is a dedicated parent volunteer, helping with many school events as well as participating in the classroom. "The importance that SCFS places on community is what brought us to the school. The strength of the teachers and their abilities to build upon our children's curiosity has kept us here." Mary Lou is a new at-large member of the board who looks forward to the challenges and excitement of being involved with State College Friends School Board of Trustees. Mary Lou is a co-owner of RE/MAX Centre Realty and has held numerous leadership positions in the Centre County Association of REALTORS, including serving as president on two different occasions. She is also a past president of the University Women’s Club and of the Interfaith Mission. Currently she is a co-sponsor of the Nittany Valley Symphony and a member of the Board of Directors of the Penn State Renaissance Fund. Dick Swails Dick joined the State College Friends School Board of Trustees in 2010. His career has been devoted to education. The earlier years found him working as a biology teacher, school counselor, and high school principal. Later, he taught at the collegiate level and held various administrative positions before retiring as director of development for Penn State's College of Engineering. Dick earned his bachelor's degree and doctorate from Penn State, and a masters from SUNY at Buffalo. Dick and his wife, Louise Sandmeyer, are members of the State College Friends Meeting. They are parents of two daughters and a son. Rick Witt, parent of fourth grader Arina, is a new at-large member of the board. Rick is an architect and senior manager with the local office of Kimball & Associates, Architects and Engineers, where he specializes in educational facilities, both new building projects and renovations. Rick says he looks forward to the new experience of being ‘on a board’ committed to children and education, versus being ‘in front of a board’ helping and guiding decision-making related to school building projects. A native of the Washington DC area, Rick graduated from the architecture program at Virginia Tech in 1988 and worked in Washington for several years before relocating to Pennsylvania. |