The district is pleased to announce the December 2022 Staff in the Spotlight recipients. Every month, each of our schools honors a staff member at their building for going above and beyond their regular duties or for doing something special. Join us in celebrating these outstanding employees!

	PELC	Emma Norquist –  Congratulations to Emma Norquist, Pendleton Early Learning Center Staff in the Spotlight.  Emma is the music teacher at both McKay and the PELC.  At the PELC, Emma teaches ten music classes a day.  Emma is always helpful and has a friendly smile for everyone.  She has done an amazing job helping to develop our student’s love for music.  The PELC holiday concerts were a HUGE success thanks to Emma’s hard work.  Our families were excited for the concert, and we had so many families and friends come to watch the concerts.  Parents remarked that this was the best concert they had seen.  Emma taught our PELC kids several holiday songs and even taught one in the Umatilla language.  On top of that, Emma made a CD so our students could listen to the songs during lunchtime in the cafeteria, she made videos of the songs for teachers to play in the classrooms for practice, and she created YouTube videos of the performance to share with the community.  We cannot say enough about Emma’s love for music and how she shares that joy with all of us at the PELC.  Congratulations!
	McKay	Sue Caldwell – For always being willing to jump in and help with any or all students.  She supports students who need a few minutes to regroup before returning to class, and she finds different ways to help students learn.  She is also the best “Bus Go To Person” that you could ask for.
	Sherwood	Tamelin Brown is caring and thoughtful.  She thinks of how to make others smile and makes their day special.  She is amazing at making connections with all of our first graders.  She comes into each classroom eager to help students.  She has wonderful ideas.  We are so lucky to have her work in our classrooms.
	Washington	Lauren Roberts – Not only does Ms. Roberts make a great team member to work with, but she is also always willing to teach what she has learned to others.  Ms. Roberts is super techy and helps make slides for her team.  She goes above and beyond to complete the data compilation for the first grade team.  Ms. Roberts is an amazing teacher, and we are so lucky to have her.  She’s a rockstar team member!
	Sunridge	Teresa Eilers is a nurse who assists one of our medically fragile students.  Our PSD Staff in the Spotlight for December is Teresa Eilers.  Here is what some of the staff had to say about her.  She is amazing in what she does.  Students can be challenging, and you handle it all in stride.  Thanks for going above and beyond on a daily basis.  We appreciate your willingness to assist with other students when your main student is not there.  You handle every situation with such grace.  You are amazing, and we appreciate your patience and gentle presence here at SMS.
	PHS	Micki Zander had some huge shoes to fill when Anita retired, but she has jumped right in and helped Pendleton High Athletics move forward.  She provides phenomenal clerical support for Mike “athletic director” as needed, answering phones and taking messages, typing and mailings for Bucks Athletics.  She does a great job of answering and resolving questions from students pertaining to fees, athletic paperwork, scheduling, and events.  She is super organized in her support to Mike with new athletic processing in gathering and preparing athletic paperwork for each sport season.  She is on top of maintaining athlete records for accurate “lettering and participation” records.  She does a wonderful job of coordinating event workers for athletic events so that our events run smoothly, and she communicates with other schools’ athletic directors and secretaries, officials, event workers, transportation, and coaches/sponsors so that there is no missed communication for our student-athletes.
	Hawthorne/ Homestead	Kim Richards – Kim makes her labs fun, interesting, and hands-on for the students consistently.  The activities allow our visual and kinesthetic learners to excel at Homestead.  Thanks to Kim for your innovative thinking and effort with students.
	District Office/Maintenance	Hunter Baum – for his hard work and dedication, especially during inclement weather.  We appreciate you.
	Nixyáawii Community School	Nicci Harrison – for her efforts in extra planning and grading classes while we were short-handed.  We appreciate you.