I have many, many memories of DPS, but a couple that stand out. Back in 1966, when I was in 3rd grade and attended Cheltenham Elementary, I met my favorite teacher. Her name was Barbara Julius. She made learning fun and I swear I learned more in that grade level than in all my years. I don't know what the secret was, but she was the best teacher ever! That was the year math included multiplication and division, that was the year I learned to love to read, and that was the year I just about got straight “Excellent” on my report card. If you’ve heard the saying, “Everything I ever needed to know, I learned in Kindergarten,” well for me, that applied to third grade. That's back when girls still had to wear dresses and skirts to school and lunch was served in the old school basement. Ms. Julius was an inspiring and dedicated teacher and as an adult I was able to see her again at a retirement party and let her know that I thought she was the greatest.
Also back in the 60’s at Cheltenham, there were a few more teachers that stood out. Mr. DiSisto was our Music teacher and although I don't play an instrument or even sing very well, he taught me to appreciate Classical music. I still listen to Strauss, Beethoven, and Tchaikowsky, thanks to Mr. DiSisto.
Mr. Ralph Leberer was our Spanish teacher. I remember how well he spoke the language and how most of the students in our class learned Spanish. I however went on to take Spanish in Junior High, and later a 5 credit class in Spanish in which I scored an A+. Unfortunately, I still can’t speak or understand oral Spanish, but I can understand the written word a bit. I can spell in Spanish (most of the time!) I used to hope that he never found out that I didn’t quite get it!
Miss Conrad, now Ms. Peecher was the Librarian at the school and taught us the Dewey Decimal System. I think that prepared me for multi-tasking later on. She was really tall and pretty and had a sweet voice. All the 5th grade girls took a charm class to try to be as pretty and stand as straight as Ms. Conrad. Ms. Peecher actually taught my son at Samuels Elementary in the 80’s.
I can also remember when Ms. Brooks, our Gym teacher left to get married and have a child. Ms. Kay Kotzelnick came in and took her place. I was able to finally hit that softball far enough to intimidate Wendy Archuleta. I got a blue ribbon for that field day. As an adult and a DPS secretary I had the privilege of working under Ms. Kotzelnick as her secretary when she became the Principal of Cheltenham. Ms. Kotzelnick and I saw eye to eye on what our students needed, and that may be because literally, we were both from the “old school.” She retired a couple of years ago and since she had been at Cheltenham for so long, (rumor has it, she laid the first brick) they dedicated part of the building to her!
Then there was Mr. Collier at Lake. In 8th grade, I was in his print shop class where I learned to set type and go into the darkroom and develop my own pictures. When my father passed away that year, Mr. Collier allowed me to copy and print his picture for myself and my family. It was the greatest gift since we had very few pictures of him. I then considered a profession in journalism. Today, I still own a camera, a digital camera, a scanner, and a video camera and when I have free time I enjoy my toys thoroughly.
Ms. Creta Bell at Lake taught me to type, which is now necessary in my job. I used her same technique to teach my sons who both use computers now. Thanks, Ms. Bell!
Ms. Chandler at Lake was our journalism teacher. I worked as an editor on the school newspaper and learned to write well enough to get an award from the Colorado Writers Association a few years back.
DPS has produced some really great teachers. Students too! So when you run into those former students who have assertive personalities, question the district, and become association leaders and work for DPS, remember that we are a product of DPS! We are used to managing change and we are flexible. We multi-task and we serve in the best interest of our students with the reasoning that we want very much for our students now to still be granted the learning opportunities that we had.
Mona Martinez