Honoring Retiring Teachers

HONORING RETIRING TEACHERS

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to honor five outstanding women who have dedicated themselves to the teaching profession and will soon retire after spending more than 30 years each as educators. Each of these women will end their career at the close of this school year at Elm Elementary School in Burr Ridge, IL, having touched the lives of hundreds of children, parents, and colleagues.

Catherine Nufer has been teaching for 36 years and has been recognized for her achievements in teaching writing and social studies. Her students have consistently excelled in State standardized tests in these areas. Ms. Nufer has taken courses over the years to keep current on new teaching standards, always striving to bring a fresh approach to the classroom.

Virginia Bojan is retiring after 33 years of teaching. She is known for her excellence in teaching language arts and science. To her students and colleagues, Ms. Bojan will be remembered most for her pleasant demeanor and use of humor in classroom lessons. Laughter and joy have been central to her teaching style, which will surelly be missed at Elm Elementary School.

Nancy Taylor has been teaching for 34 years, during which time she led district-wide curriculum development initiatives in the areas of language arts and mathematics. Under her soft-spoken, gentle approach to teaching, hundreds of students have learned and flourished. She will be remembered for always striving to care for and understand each child as an individual.

Beverly Oliveri is retiring after 34 years of teaching. She has demonstrated leadership on curriculum development committees which have advanced the way mathematics is taught in District 181. Ms. Oliveri will be remembered by students and colleagues for her unique practice of utilizing storytelling in her classroom lessons, helping students to grasp new concepts by applying them to humorous real-life situations.

Patricia Trudicks has been teaching at Elm Elementary School throughout all 36 years of her teaching career. She was instrumental in introducing technology as an instructional tool and also played a vital role in developing Elm Elementary's Media Resource Center, which offers students and teachers access to educational enrichment materials. Ms. Trudicks has constructed creative, hands-on displays in the media resource center, leaving the hundreds of students she has served with educational experiences they will never forget.

I am honored to have this opportunity to publicly recognize these five women, who have dedicated their professional lives to educating children. They have made an invaluable impact on the minds and hearts of the hundreds of students they have served, providing their students with a broad base of knowledge that has endured well beyond their elementary school years. These five teachers are fine examples of excellence in education, and I proudly salute them for their dedicated service and wish them well in their retirement.