Teachers and Staff Share What Brought Extra Warmth to the Holidays

Patti McGee, Special Education Paraprofessional: “When my kids were really little, I lived about an hour and a half away from my parents. They wanted to see my kids on Christmas morning. So on Christmas Eve, once my kids were asleep, we would load up my jeep, and I would drive an hour and a half to drop off the toys at my mother’s house. Then, we would come home and get up at the crack of dawn...

Grace Myers, Counseling Office Administrative Assistant (shown left): “We couldn’t go down the stairs to get our gifts until my parents were up. And a big memory is sitting on the top of the stairs, just waiting. My one older brother would be up all night long and he’d be like, “C’mon, it's time to go!” [But] just spending time with family, and that’s all I really care about now: spendi...

Christian Poole, Music Teacher: “Getting out. Playing [music] for people who can’t get out of their houses and bringing them some joy to their homes and situations. I play Christmas events with my family every year. We go out, [because] we are all musicians, and we play together and we play music for others all together. So every Christmas we’re jamming music. All the time.” Photograph by ...

Melinda Landis, School Nurse: “We went on a Disney cruise once with all my family to the Bahamas. It was a New Year’s themed cruise. It was black and silver and decorated for New Years Eve and Christmas stuff. I got a little tired of Mickey by the end of it; I was done with Mickey Mouse by the end of the seven days.” Photograph by Kyle Billings

Kristy Ehlke, SHS Main Office Administrative Assistant: “Getting together with family. It is my special thing. We all get together at Pittsburgh, and there’s about 30 people that all get in. We just have a big get together.” Photograph by Kyle Billings

Andrew Jones, Music Teacher (shown left): “We took kids to play at two nursing homes. It was just a good experience, seeing the joy on their faces, and our kids really enjoyed it. We found out yesterday that at one of the nursing homes, we were the only school to reach out to perform for them this year. So that’s really special.” Photograph by Kyle Billings Jay Althouse, Music Teacher (shown right): �...

Kevin Molin, Principal: “Every Christmas Eve we get together, both sides of the family, and we just sit down and have a quiet meal after church. And we just get to spend some time before the craziness of Christmas. That’s something we’ve always done. We did it with my grandparents and it's a tradition we continue to do.” Photograph by Kyle Billings

Logan Addison, Special Education Teacher: “We go to Texas and get to see all our family, because I live here in PA. I get to see my family, that’s what I like, because they’re not around me. I’m the only one [who lives] in PA. We all get together and hang out and eat a lot of food. The best Christmas food is macaroni and cheese.” Photograph by Kyle Billings

Chris Newland, Math Teacher: “As many people know, we like to travel quite a bit, and our first trip at holiday time was 10 years ago and was to Ireland at Christmas time. It was a phenomenal, phenomenal trip, and it started our trend of going away on most holidays. We’ll be going to Asheville, North Carolina in a few days.” Photograph by Kyle Billings

Natalie Hynoski, SHS Main Office Administrative Assistant: “Every year, when I open up my box of Christmas decorations, I love taking out the homemade ornaments from each of my kids from when they were little, my nieces, my nephews, my daughter, and even the adults who made ornaments. I love taking them out and just looking at each one and remember and think about that person who made it. So tha...

Kayse Corrieri, SHS Librarian: “In 1999, right before Y2K, everyone thought the world was ending that night. My girlfriends and I, we all decided that if it was ending, we were going to be in Times Square in New York City and we were going to be there and it was just going to happen. If it was going to happen, it was going to happen. So we all piled in the car and went to Times Square. And the b...

Kerri Younkin, Science Teacher: “In 2012, my husband was deployed the whole year and he was supposed to come back in January, but he came home December 22. So, my older two kids were wrestling at Susquehannock, and they had a meet that day. We were at the meet and I got a phone call that he was going to be at the airport and that I needed to get there. The boys were supposed to wrestle, so I told ...

Nick DeLuca, Science Teacher: “I personally have a tradition every year on Christmas Eve where I start a brand new game of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time every Christmas Eve. Growing up, we would go to my grandparents house and visit them for the holidays. My grandfather had a Nintendo 64 at the time and Legend of Zelda was the game that I loved to play with him. When we would visit him for the...

Timothy Groth, English Teacher: “Growing up, my grandmother would come in from New Jersey. It was always a big deal because we would get into her very tiny car and we would go get our Christmas tree and we couldn’t get our Christmas tree until she arrived. She would come in a week before Christmas and we’d pile into her car and go find a tree. We’d have to put down the backseat of her car, p...

Erica Littleton, English Teacher: “To me, the most memorable thing was being able to create moments for my children. I think as a parent, especially when your children are little, you get to create those magical moments for them. I think that’s the very best that there is; when you can create those magical moments for your children, especially when they’re little and have so much excitement for...