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Show PROFILE B-ll SAT/SUN/MON/TUES, JULY 7-10, 2007 THE PARK RECORD www.parkrecord.com Swaner adds a teacher's touch Sabino Swaner so we learned wearing boots over our shoes. I remember it was a steep hill with icy snow. I learned to turn a joined the family during the genesis lot to survive and became a pretty good skier.1' She took her undergraduate degree in education, of the Swaner Preserve theology and philosophy. "Back then, the nuns decided Nature what classes you'd take. There were two major choices, and threw herself nursing or education. I chose education initially into the project with By STEVE PHILLIPS because it sounded like more fun that nursing. I soon abandon. She has worked tirelessly as learned it was the right choice for me." Record contributing writer Bachelors degree in hand, Sabino-Swaner headed a volunteer teacher Diana Sabino-Swaner has been a teacher all her life, west with her best friend. "We stayed with friends in and promoter and and not just in the classroom. She's passionate about Del Mar, California and both got teaching jobs in San currently serves as learning, a quest that has guided her through a life com- Diego. "I liked California a lot," she grins. The Secretary on the mitted to helping young people realize their full poten- California lifestyle was a marked change from the rigors Board of Directors. tial. Her story is compelling. "I'm passionate of Catholic school in New York. Sabino-Swaner was born in Bcthpage. New She taught 5th grade in San Diego and later in San about the preserve York, the second of four children born to Catherine and Francisco. It was the mid-1960s and San Francisco was and especially the Theodore Sabino. Her parents were Italian immigrants. the place to be. She remembers seeing Janis Joplin per- outreach program Her father came through Ellis Island when he was eight form live at the Fillmore. for special needs years old. His name is still on the wall there. He and his "I focused on 5th grade because that's when young populations in Park brothers worked hard and saved to buy a 200-acre farm minds are the sharpest," says Sabino-Swaner. "Its a City and the suron Long Island, just 10 miles from downtown New York great age for instilling values, philosophy, ethics and rounding area," she City. thinking skills. I've always felt the challenge isn't how says. "I think using "I have great memories of growing up on the farm, to get my students to think about curriculum but rather nature and the prewhich was literally the last one in Nassau County," says how to use curriculum to get students to think." serve to teach valSabino-Swaner. "We helped our parents harvest vegShe took her Masters degree in international educa- ues and ethics is etables and bottle apple cider to sell in the city and at tion/curriculum writing from USC in 1972. The adven- invaluable. A day the small store at the house. I remember we would load turous young woman then took a teaching job in on the preserve up the truck and my parents would break a bottle of Heidelberg, Germany. While there she met and mar- teaches lessons homemade wine over it for luck before each trip into ried an American Army doctor stationed there. The these children will Manhattan." two had a never forget." She attended Catholic school in neardaughter. Sabino Swaner by Farmingdalc through Sth grade and ...The most important thing I Alexandra has learned to relax completed high school at Queen of the Fulton, who a little in recent Rosary Academy, a Catholic girl's school learned was that the end doesn't justi- is now a years. Although she run by Dominican nuns in Amityville, w o r k i n g is just as vibrant and New York. "The emphasis all the way fy the means. That's kind of a mantra actress in enthusiastic about through school was ethics," she says. I've carried with me through life." L o s life and work as "The most important thing I learned was Angeles. . ever, she derives that the end doesn't justify the means. - Diana Sabino-Swaner "That's how pleasure from simThat's kind of a mantra I've carried with I wound up ple things like garme through life." in Utah." dening and long Neither of her parents went past 8th n ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ • ^ ^ ^ ™ ^ " ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ « " ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ " she says. walks. grade, recounts Sabino-Swaner. "They "I love walking "We moved to Salt Lake City, where he completed his placed a high value on education and instilled that in all residency." They later divorced. on the beach, any 11 four of us children. We all went on to college and got The single mother continued her career in Salt Lake beach, anywhere. advanced degrees." as a gifted education teacher in the Salt Lake and she says. "It's just She attended Ladycliff College, a Catholic girl's Murray school districts. She was also owner-director of so peaceful. Maybe SARAH AUSE/ PARK RECORD school in Highland Falls, New York. "The school a Montcssori School. it's my Sabino-Swaner uses nature to teach values, ethics and interconnectedness. grounds were actually part of West Point," she recalls. She was introduced to Tad Swaner at Deer Valley by Mediterranean her"I worked part-lime as a lifeguard at the pool we shared a mutual friend who had challenged. "Tad, I know a girl itage - my cellular She says compassion is the key. with the cadets. We girls all had to wear long robes from New York who's a belter skier than you." In spite of inevitable changes. Sabino Swaner is at memory,' she postulates. She says even the beach at whenever we weren't in the water." home in Park City. "This place has the best year-round Swaner, himself a gifted skier taught by the legendary Deer Valley will do on sunny winter days. She once saved a man who hit his head on the diving Alf Engen, look the bait. She has a pet peeve or two about the area, including weather in the world. Great people live here who are board and lay unconscious at the bottom of the pool. Was she a better skier? "Lets just say I skied well its rapidly changing landscape and values. "Light pollu- deeply involved in making things better for the town. "All I remember was that he was a really big guy," she enough to get a proposal out of him," she jokes. "Of tion is a big problem, especially out around Quinn's We also have a great mayor," she summarizes. says. She points out the growing Latino community as course there was a lot more to it than that," she contin- Junction," she says. "Do we really need so much light Sabino-Swaner learned to ski at West Point. "They ues. "We shared the same values, and I admired him for washing out the night sky? It certainly confuses the part of what's right about the town. "I love the culture had their own ski area and it was free for us." she says. his humility and good nature. He's a kind, compassion- local wildlife." and I admire their strong family ethic. They all help "We had to wear skirts at school, so my girlfriend and I ate, loving person and that really came through." They Other issues on her list are the erection of buildings each other. That's a value we've forgotten in this counwould sneak away with our ski clothes and change in married in 1987, settled in Deer Valley and will cele- over three stories high and the lack of a citywide recy- try. I guess I see my own parents in them, how hard they the taxi on the way there. All the ski boots were too big brate their 20th anniversary in a few weeks. worked to give us such a great life." ; ' • cling service. New York native is passionate about learning, problem-solving and possibilities. mm ' '••'• . "="[r'*'V v " ; ^ # IX& fcr:^; - _^*»i. & Vl * •*."£ MOOSE KNOLL FOREVER VIEWS FROM THiS FABULOUS COUNTRy ESTATE! This beautiful, secluded honu- is situated on u acres in Goshawk Ranch. 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