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Learning a geography lesson
New teachers educated on what’s what in Charles County before school starts
Friday, Aug. 22, 2008
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by GARY SMITH
Joe Nadasky, left, and Ashley Mondul arrive for a tour of the Capital Clubhouse with a group of fellow new Charles County teachers last week.
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As part of new teacher orientation, the Charles County Board of education took its newly hired teachers on a bus tour of the sites and landmarks of their new home last week. Both the business and the county itself put on their best faces to greet the new teachers Aug. 12.
Ronald G. Cunningham, deputy superintendent of the county’s public schools, said the tour was started after school administrators studied an evaluation from last year’s teachers.
‘‘We heard from a lot of the out-of-state teachers that they wanted to see more of what the county was like,” Cunningham said. ‘‘So we organized a bus tour.”
Ashley Mondul, 22, who will teach local and state government at North Point High School, came to the county after attending a job fair at the University of Illinois where a school board representative had a table.
‘‘It is difficult to find a teaching job now where I live,” Mondul said. Mondul is from Naperville, Ill. ‘‘Out of all the places I interviewed, Charles County seemed the nicest place.”
Her neighbor and fellow teacher Joe Nadasky, 27, of Detroit, agreed.
‘‘I used to work in the auto industry,” Nadasky said. ‘‘The job situation in Detroit is eroding. I worked for Chrysler for six years, and in the back of my mind I knew the auto industry wasn’t going well. I was a substitute teacher for a few years, and then operated a charter school.”
Nadasky will teach sixth- and seventh-grade math at Matthew Henson Middle School.
One of the first stops on the bus tour was the Capital Clubhouse in Waldorf. Teachers were given a tour of the facility, and several volunteers were able to show off their rock-climbing skills.
Jill Lown, 22, of Pennsylvania has climbed rock walls before but never one as big as the one she climbed at the clubhouse.
‘‘This is my first teaching job,” Lown said. ‘‘I interviewed at schools from Florida to Pennsylvania, and when I walked into the schools here, I felt like I was coming home. I think Charles County truly values learning and not just teaching for the national standards.”
Lown will be teaching algebra and college-prep algebra at North Point.
Fellow rock-climber and teacher Carlin Danner, 22, of Rhode Island is going to be a special education teacher at Theodore G. Davis Middle School. ‘‘I didn’t know there would be rock climbing,” Danner said. ‘‘What a cool school system. I come from a small state, and I left there because I was up for an adventure.”
Amy Vanden Berg, a teacher from Michigan with 11 years of experience, has already started to explore Charles County on her own.
‘‘I was friends with some teachers from Charles County,” Vanden Berg said. ‘‘When they told me how friendly and helpful everyone was, I knew this was the place.”
While getting a tour of Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf, Vanden Berg was telling other teachers what a fun day she and her 3-year-old daughter, Emma, had there a few days before.
‘‘We came here and played on the bumper boats,” Vanden Berg said. ‘‘There were lots of kid activities, and I would say this was fun for the whole family.”
After the tour of stadium, the teachers received free tickets to a home game of their choice.
While at the Legends Club at the stadium, the teachers were able to meet Del. Peter F. Murphy (D-Charles) and Charles County Commissioner Gary V. Hodge (D).
‘‘You guys have the most important job in the county,” Hodge said. ‘‘Much more important than my job.”
Several teachers chose to teach in Charles County because of the blend of rural and suburban that Charles County offers.
David Hoffman, 22, of Buffalo, N.Y., will teach English at North Point.
‘‘I went for a run on Berry Road the other day,” Hoffman said. ‘‘I was out of the suburbs in five minutes, and into the cornfields. I like that I can get to Washington in 45 minutes or New York in three hours. It is the best of both worlds.”
Tara Leimeister, a teacher with 11 years experience from Ohio, agreed.
‘‘It is a blend of country and city,” Leimeister said. ‘‘We are close to the ocean here, too.”
Going through La Plata, the teachers saw the hospital, the library and the Jessie L. Starkey Administration Building. They also were told of the good food they could find at places like The Crossing at Casey Jones restaurant in La Plata and at the crab houses in Popes Creek.
The Greene Turtle in La Plata invited the teachers to stop and have free appetizers. The teachers snacked on buffalo wings and fried shrimp as they chatted at the restaurant.
Peter Lopez, assistant general manager for the Greene Turtle, was happy to treat the teachers to snacks.
‘‘This is a nice way to reward those who give back to the community,” Lopez said.
The tour continued past the county fairgrounds and south to Chapel Point Road. The teachers heard about the legend of the blue dog as they went past Rose Hill and the Thomas Stone house.
Dinner was catered by Outback Steak House in La Plata and was held at Maurice J. McDonough High School.
Jessica Harris, 22, of Rhode Island will teach middle school science. She is already planning an ambitious project for her students.
‘‘We are going to build our own radio,” Harris said. ‘‘And with it we should be able to contact the space shuttle.”
Harris was comparing Charles County schools to the school she left behind.
‘‘There we had 45 students in each class, and the classes were 45 minutes long,” she said.
‘‘By the time we got everyone organized, the period was over. I am impressed with how clean everything here is. ‘Old Southern Charm’ really does exist.”
Mondul started to talk about the things she missed from home.
‘‘I miss my mom, my friends and my dog,” Mondul said. ‘‘I miss my ice cream shop back home.”
Mondul then smiled. ‘‘I do like Charles Street Bakery, though.”
