Archived Alumni Notes (April 2001-April 2005)

May 16, 2005

According to theAnn Arbor News, alum David Gibson, a middle school teacher in Tecumseh, is a school board member in the Clinton district. He is running for re-election.

Alum Jennifer Fontenot was featured in a recent story in the Garden City Observer. A teacher at Henry Ruff Elementary School, Fontenot was awarded the Teacher of the Year Award from the American Legion Department of Michigan for her work in teaching the state’s Core Democratic Values. The award recognizes the work she has done in producing student DVDs on such topics as diversity and patriotism.

One project that caught the judges' attention was a “diversity project,” that emerged from a negative comment made by one child to another. "I felt I needed to do something," Fonenot said, "It was a perfect place for the students to take a stand and defend it."

May 2, 2005

An April 26 story in the Detroit Free Press described EMU alum Gregory Chappelle and his team of four eighth graders from Durfee Elementary and Middle School in Detroit, who were winners of the eCYBERMISSION northwest regional competition. Their project concerned safety gear for pedestrians and night workers. Competing against 1,150 other teams representing all 50 states and U.S. territories and Department of Defense Education Activity schools around the world, the “Durfee Boys” have earned a spot among the final 16 regional teams headed for the national competition in Washington, D.C., later this year. The team’s cyber mission is to reduce the number of pedestrian fatalities in the United States and Canada. The team hypothesized that safety gear worn by pedestrians and those who work outdoors at night could reduce the number of fatalities caused by driver's limited vision at night and early morning. They conducted experiments at the Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland, an Army facility in Warren, Eastern Michigan University, the University of Michigan, the University of Windsor and in their classroom. The results were three safety products that can't be revealed publicly until after the competition.

Nancy Finlayson, who holds a masters in music education from EMU and who was, until her retirement in 2000, a music teacher in the Riverview Community Schools, was featured in the April 18 issue of the Ann Arbor News.  Finlayson has become a historian of lighthouses and makes frequent presentations on lighthouses to school and other community groups.

IN MEMORIAM

Ruth Virginia Sutton of Ypsilanti, who held both bachelors and masters degrees in music education from EMU, died recently.  She was a local-area piano teacher for over 40 years and was the organist at various local churches.  She especially enjoyed being the accompanist for several prominent area high school choral groups, including the Walled Lake and Ypsilanti High School choral programs.  She toured Europe multiple times with the YHS Chamber Singers.

Madeleine Elaine Falahee, a graduate of Michigan Normal School with a bachelor’s degree in music education and a masters in elementary education, died February 18, 2005. Falahee taught in the Ypsilanti Schools for 25 years at Chapelle and Fletcher Elementary Schools.

D.L. Bailey, a graduate of "The Normal," died recently.  He had been a high school teacher in Harbor Beach, Vassar, and Alpena.

Joan Walton, who held a master's degree in reading from EMU, died recently.  She taught for many years in the Detroit schools.  After 1984 and until recent times she taught at the Michigan Works! Service Center teaching reading and mathematics to adults  who were either attempting to enter the workforce but lacked the necessary skills or who had a disability.  She also taught developmental reading classes at OCC, HFCC, and Marygrove.

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