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Show PERSONALITY 4 A MOTHER, MOOSE DAUGHTER AND A DANCING pa.niir.nney jsika if y8 Huhnke Staff Reporter Westminster Griffins guide the Montessori Mooses in their educational journey. .Having found a common passion for teachingJoyce Sibbett, an associate professor of education at Westminster College, and her daughter Jennifer Duffield (06), MBA Westminster alumna, started a Montessori school together. The first Dancing Moose Montessori School (DMMS) opened in January of 2007. DMMS now has two locations that children to range from classes few a teaching years after kindergarten. It also offers before and after care. I thought about starting a school I was teaching courses here, Sibbett said. I thought about wanting to get in the trenches. Duffield started out as a chemistry major as an undergraduate while working at a preschool to help finance her own education. She enjoyed that a lot and decided that she could do a better job and could use my influence in education and her business influence to be able to go forward and start a school, Sibbett said. In creating the name for their school, they wanted it to focus on children being able to enjoy nature, which is where the Moose came from. The owners as Joyce Sibbett, professor of education at Westminster, is one of two founders of the Dancing Moose Montessori School. Sibbett opened the school in 2007 with her daughter Jennifer Duffield (06), Westminster MBA alumna, and now they've expanded to two said they also wanted to bring in the idea of the arts. So we had the Dancing Moose, Sibbett said. We wanted to be able to bring in the childrens perspectives. A dancing moose, to a child, is a playful and yet a very meaningful context. We wanted to use a childs lens. Jodi Kiser, a school director at the West Valley location, shared that she has loved her experience working with the DMMS, Working here at DMMS is fantastic, she said. It is a good community where teachers support each other. Wanting to create a quality educaduo provides tion, the mother-daughtopportunities that children of working parents would find beneficial. First, they created a vision. They said it came from being a working mom, as well as wanting to devise a quality program. DMMS shares a vision to be a place where children could be educated, not just simply a daycare. Duffield shared the importance of that image and wrote a business plan as part of the MBA. The bottom line is that its wonderful to have a vision and its wonderful to bring another component into what I love and what I believe in, which is what I teach at Westminster, Sibbett said. er Co-found- er locations. CONTACT HUHNKE JMH4755WESTMINSTERCOLLEGE.EDU Getting to know students around the pingpong table Punj abi Staff fit poti f r BnH-an- Mark Feme challenges students to Defeat the Dean in hopes of connecting with them over a game of pingpong. Feme arrived at Westminster in January 2002 and was named the dean of students in June 2004. Around that same time, he started the Defeat the Dean challenge. Originally, Defeat the Dean consisted of students challenging Feme to a game of racquetball. But as he kept developing tennis elbow, he decided it was time to change the game. Now, Defeat the Dean allows students to challenge him to a game of pingpong for a chance to win a free dinner. Feme said he chose to start this activity in hopes of humanizing and demystifying himself. He said he hopes the challenge will allow students to see him as more of a person and not just a college administrator. When a person gets to a certain level of administration, it can be more challenging for them to work with students one-on-o- ne, he said. I want students to get to know me outside of this structure, Feme said. One outcome I hope for is that if students have a good idea or have something going on in their personal lives, theyll come into my office. Griffin Mullin, first-ye- ar jor and pingpong player, challenged Feme to a game on Aug. 25. Its an interesting kind of thing that he does to get involved with the students, said Mullin before his game against Feme. Nate Wooldridge, first-yegeology major, played for the first time on August 18. He lost to the dean 26-2- 8. But, on Aug. 25, he came back for a rear match. Ive been looking at restaurants all week, Wooldridge said with a laugh. A free meal can be a great perk, but winning gets players more than that. When a student beats him, Feme sits down and chats with them about life. He said it speaks to the Westminster way. Though Feme wins more than he loses, he said once players figure out his secret serve and strategy, they will beat him. And once you beat me, youll always beat me, Feme said with a smirk. President of the pingpong team, Peter and fiSeppi, junior economics, pre-laalso nance major, came to play the dean on echoed 25. Femes idea. Aug. Seppi Ive beat him quite a bit, Seppi said. Its not a big deal to beat him. Feme is looking for students to challenge him every Tuesday at 4 p.m. in HWAC. Students can stop by and maybe walk away with free food and get to know the dean of students better. w psychology ma CONTACT PUNJABI BLP0706WESTMINSTERCOLLEGE EDU lenges students to pingpong every week in Defeat the Dean, not just for the fun of the sport and free food, but to make connections with the students. |