[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10799-10800]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING RETIRING TEACHERS

 Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to honor five 
outstanding women who have dedicated themselves to the teaching 
profession and will soon retire after spending more than 30 years each 
as educators. Each of these women will end their career at the close of 
this school year at Elm Elementary School in Burr Ridge, IL, having 
touched the lives of hundreds of children, parents, and colleagues.
  Catherine Nufer has been teaching for 36 years and has been 
recognized for her achievements in teaching writing and social studies. 
Her students have consistently excelled in State standardized tests in 
these areas. Ms. Nufer has taken courses over the years to keep current 
on new teaching standards, always striving to bring a fresh approach to 
the classroom.
  Virginia Bojan is retiring after 33 years of teaching. She is known 
for her excellence in teaching language arts and science. To her 
students and colleagues, Ms. Bojan will be remembered most for her 
pleasant demeanor and use of humor in classroom lessons. Laughter and 
joy have been central to her teaching style, which will surelly be 
missed at Elm Elementary School.
  Nancy Taylor has been teaching for 34 years, during which time she 
led district-wide curriculum development initiatives in the areas of 
language arts and mathematics. Under her soft-spoken, gentle approach 
to teaching, hundreds of students have learned and flourished. She will 
be remembered for always striving to care for and understand each child 
as an individual.
  Beverly Oliveri is retiring after 34 years of teaching. She has 
demonstrated leadership on curriculum development committees which have 
advanced the way mathematics is taught in District 181. Ms. Oliveri 
will be remembered by students and colleagues for her unique practice 
of utilizing storytelling in her classroom lessons, helping students to 
grasp new concepts by applying them to humorous real-life situations.
  Patricia Trudicks has been teaching at Elm Elementary School 
throughout all 36 years of her teaching career. She was instrumental in 
introducing technology as an instructional tool and also played a vital 
role in developing Elm Elementary's Media Resource Center, which offers 
students and teachers

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access to educational enrichment materials. Ms. Trudicks has 
constructed creative, hands-on displays in the media resource center, 
leaving the hundreds of students she has served with educational 
experiences they will never forget.
  I am honored to have this opportunity to publicly recognize these 
five women, who have dedicated their professional lives to educating 
children. They have made an invaluable impact on the minds and hearts 
of the hundreds of students they have served, providing their students 
with a broad base of knowledge that has endured well beyond their 
elementary school years. These five teachers are fine examples of 
excellence in education, and I proudly salute them for their dedicated 
service and wish them well in their retirement.

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