Each year, North Penn superintendent Dr. Curt Deitrich presents selected NP employees with the coveted “Superintendent’s Honor Roll Award.” The Superintendent’s Honor Roll is an annual event for which nominations are available for full-time and part-time employees who have been in the district for at least three years. Colleagues nominate those employees who they feel are worthy of such distinction. This year, two North Penn High School employees met that mark.
The staff here at North Penn cooperatively work together to make it such a high achieving school, and among them Sally Kauffman, the warm, friendly nurse known to many students, and Lisa Wright, the knowledgeable and devoted math teacher, were both honored this month with the Superintendent’s Honor Roll because of their complete dedication to the North Penn High School community.
Kauffman always wanted to be a nurse; her love for nursing started when she was very young and sick in the hospital. Then, at fourteen years old she volunteered at River View Hospital, which is now Mercy Suburban Hospital, and at age fifteen they started paying her. At the age of sixteen, she went to a summer program in Israel.
She graduated from Gwynedd Mercy College, receiving her Associate’s Degree. She then went to Israel again and served as the town nurse and worked at an intensive care hospital. When she returned to America, she went back to college to get her BSN.
Before her nursing career at North Penn, Kauffman worked at Albert Einstein Hospital and Mercy Suburban Hospital. Working in the district for 16 years, she became a substitute for elementary schools and later took a full time position at the high school.
With such dedication, it’s no surprise she was awarded this honor because all of her favorite things about the school involve the students.
“Oh, the favorite thing is the students,” says Kauffman with a smile. She enjoys communicating with the kids. She sees the students learning to advocate for themselves and becoming more willing to ask more questions. She remembers numerous occasions when she helped seniors graduate who had extenuating circumstances.
She plans to continue working for more time, but after she hopes to do volunteer work and travel later in her life. We hope we can keep her distinctive dedication and commitment on our staff as long as we can.
Math teacherLisa Wright has taught at North Penn for 25 years – her entire teaching career.. She says she had been interested in teaching since 8th or 9th grade. But she was really inspired in 11th when her math teacher showed her how much fun it could really be.
Wright believes that “all students are different.” To teach students to their fullest potential, she gets to know everyone as an individual. Wright talks to them after school and at events until she really knows each one. At that point, she can figure out how to best help them learn – usually by a very hands-on method.
When she won the award, Wright says she was “stunned.” She was surprised and honored at the same time. Even though she spends her whole day in front of a classroom, she felt strange and nervous in front of the large crowd of her peers and co-workers.
“I’m just honored that the people I work with thought enough of me to nominate me and the administration recognized me with an award,” said Wright.
Outside of school, family comes first. Wright spends most of her time shuttling around her three kids. With two of them in North Penn and one already graduated, they fill up most of her time. Fortunately, she still has some time to spend with her dogs and in her garden.
Mrs. Wright shows all students that doing what you love leads to a successful and happy life.