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Barb Gilcrease - Grace Self - Don Gilespie
Barb Gilcrease
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Barb earned her Bachelors of Science in Education and Physical in 1972 from Harris Teachers College. She would follow that with a Masters of teaching in Adolescent Social and Behavioral Sciences, from Webster University; a Mater's in Education in Elementary and Secondary Administration; followed by an Associate's Degree from Meramec Community College in Criminal Justice.
Barb started her career in St. Louis Public Schools as a sixth grade teacher in 1972 and would join the Northwest family in 1978 as an English and Social Studies teacher at North Jefferson Middle School. In addition to stimulating the minds of middle school students, she coached girl's track for four years at the high school. She moved on to become the assistant principal at North Jefferson from 1982-1988 before becoming the building principal of Murphy Elementary for the remainder of her career. She retired in 2003.
In her retirement Barb has spent time traveling, playing golf and enjoying spending time with family and friends. Although, Barb has probably been called out of retirement more than Michael Jordan, to work through the distrait filling in administrative roles from the elementary level to the high school.
Whether in her role as a teacher, administrator, or retired comeback kid, what stands out about Barb Gilcrease is her ability to work with children in a way that is kind, caring, and respectful. No matter what the grade level she is working with, Barb just has a way of bringing out the best in students. Whether as the sixth grade English teacher, the assistant principals, building principals, or returning retired principal, Barb Gilcrease is iconic for her ability to put into motion her leadership, of both students and staff, to achieve their best. Barb proves that people who are passionate about children and education may leave our building, but they never stop working for young people.
Grace Self
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Grace Self, Distinguished Educator of the Year. her selfless devotion of time, energy and love to the development of the children of our community makes her undoubtedly worthy of this recognition.
Grace is a graduate of Northwest High School. She started her career as a student of the Northwest R-I School District. She graduated from high school in 1969 and attended Southeast Missouri State and returned in 1973 as a teacher in the business department. In addition to teaching, she was a cheerleading coach for 12 years.
She left to start a family and returned as a counselor. I believe that as a counselor that Grace made her greatest impact on the district. She came to the NHS guidance department as an intern, in a time when we cut guidance down to one counselor for a building of 2,000 students. Grace quickly assumed many responsibilities and rose to become the department chair, a title she would keep uncontested for 12 years. She helped to instill upper level courses, freshman teaming, career and technical education the A+ program, and Advanced Placement courses. More importantly, Grace was inspiration to so many students. She helped countless children earn their high school diploma, guide students on courses to take to help them become post-secondary ready, prepare for the ACT/SAT, fill out college applications, and navigate the scholarship process. While this is all important, it pales in comparison to the emotional support she provided to countless students who walked through her door. Grace worked late, she came in on weekends, she cam in everyday in summer without compensation and she NEVER complained. it was a labor of love and I admire and respect her for every minute she gave to our community and it's children.
Don Gilespie
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Don graduated from Fontbonne University in 1978. He taught with Special School District for a couple of years before getting involved with a management consulting firm attempting to change behavior of management to make the company more productive in corporate North America.
Don returned to education in a couple of years working with geriatric MR/MI clients at the State Hospital in St. Louis on Arsenal street, and also doing a time with adolescents at Hawthorne Treatment Center when it was located on that campus. having worked with MR/MI adults, he was asked to manage a group home of nine clients from Arsenal that were going to be located in the South County area. Don moved to Webster Groves and began teaching at Edgewood Children Center, working with eight to twelve year old boys who had been physically and emotionally abused. He used nature, gardening and animals, in and out of the classroom to establish a positive interaction and behavior change with that group. While at Edgewood someone recommended he apply to co-op. Don began to help with an educational/behavior program that would be located in Hillsboro in two trailers by the Juvenile Detention Center.
Another recommendation led him to interview with Northwest High School for a position in the alternative classroom. Don started at the old high school in House Springs and has been with the district since 1977. Don told Betty Schrader and Mr. Stevens that paperwork was not his strong suit, but they hired him anyway! Besides the AC room, Don was also involved in the LATE School program from 1997 until his retirement. This program met Monday through Thursday from 2:30-6:30 and was open for at-risk student not able to succeed in a normal school setting.
Don has received the following recognitions:
- Apple Award in 2001
- Teacher of the Year in 2008
- Nelson Weber and his wife gave Don a beautiful plaque thanking him for helping their son accomplish high school, culminating in graduation
- Fontbonne University awarded him a Community Service Award in 2014
- He also received recognition in the Big River Current newspaper as a Feature of the Month in 2014
In response to who impacted Don the most within the district; his response was the staff at NHS. From the time Dr. Paul Ziegler was an assistant principal, Karen Seifert, Jeanne Rothermel, the special education department throughout the years, the current administration, pas administration have shown concern and the desire to help students succeed. And, with that thought they allowed Don to help kids in the style he thought was necessary that at some point down the road would have a positive impact and a positive result for the individual student. Don's side-kick at NHS was June Nenninger. June was Don's para from day one. June never criticized, but gave advice, guidance, and support in regard to decisions he had to make regarding behavior and academic progress.
Don wanted to thank the counselors, secretaries, paras, special education staff, custodians, nurses, cafeteria staff, regular education teachers, because in his words, "they ALL embraced me with my desire to help "my guys" be successful. Thank you Northwest High School."