Maximizing Student Achievement
Mabry Biographies |
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Mrs. Ilene Abrams * National Faculty to CNN News She was presented to the Cobb County Board of Education for each of the above honors. Mrs. Abrams presented at the International Reading conference in Toronto and has spoken at numerous national and international conferences. Mrs. Abrams says, "Teaching has always been a passion for me, even at the tea parties I had with my dolls when I was a little girl. And today, making a difference with our future leaders and productive citizens (both students and teachers) is paramount in my professional life." And she certainly brings her passionate commitment to achieving that goal to her classes every day. Her hobbies include spending time with family and friends, traveling, reading (naturally), and cooking and entertaining her friends and family. |
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Mrs. Albertson has a B.S. in Secondary Math Education from Auburn University and a M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from West Georgia. This will be her 15th year in education. She taught eight years at Dickerson Middle School, two years at Mabry Middle School, went back to Dickerson for one year (because of teacher allotment reductions at Mabry), and now has been back at Mabry for four years!! Not only is she thrilled to be coming back to Mabry, but everyone in the Mabry family is equally delighted to have her back home where she belongs! Mrs. Albertson just celebrated her 13 year wedding anniversary with her husband, Michael. They have two children: Katie, who is 8 and will be in third grade at Davis Elementary this year; and Max, who is 5. The Albertson's also have "Pete the Dog," their 12 year old Jack Russell Terrier! Mrs. Albertson says, "I am all about math and logic! I love to do logic puzzles!! I also enjoy sewing, smocking, and reading!!" |
She is a certified teacher and even attended the summer institute hosted by Cobb County for administrators and teachers all around the county. She is always smiling and eager to help. She assists our teachers and students to help them maximize their academic achievement. |
Mr. George Ashison
Mr. Ashison is one of our wonderful paraprofessionals. Please check back soon for more information about Mr. Ashison. |
Mrs. Aycock Mrs. Aycock is currently certified in special education and middle school reading. She has always taught in middle schools, valued her students, and she still enjoys seeing students grow both academically and emotionally. Her immediate family consist of her husband of 25 years, her son, her daughter, and the family dog, Mattie. Mrs. Aycock enjoys working on house projects, with her church functions, and spending time with close friends.
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Mrs. April Barron  Mrs. April Barron teaches study skills at Mabry. She received a B.S in Speech Pathology from the University of Tennessee and a Masters degree in Education from Georgia State University. She grew up in Cobb County and is a graduate of Walton High School. Her previous teaching experience includes five years at Daniell Middle School and a semester teaching in Australia. In her free time, she enjoys running, playing tennis, and spending time with friends and family. |
Once her youngest had reached pre-school age, she re-entered the workforce in the spring of 1984 at Mabry teaching 7th grade Math. During her rich tenure at Mabry, she has had the joy and courage to teach all subjects: 6th and 7th grade language arts/ reading, and 6th and 7th grade social studies, and she could even teach science if needed. A veteran teacher with an extensive career at Mabry and a passion for learning, she has participated in or spear-headed the School Improvement Plan, Building Leadership Team, Site-based Management Team, and was selected for a Demonstration Team in Writing. Over the last ten years, she has supervised the writing, publishing and sale of Mabry's agenda. Mrs.Baylor has managed Mabry's summer school program for rising sixth graders; and she taught the before school STAR program. Mrs. Baylor has been actively involved with the professional interests of her occupation by serving several times on the Committee of 100 for Cobb County, has been the Social Studies Subject Area Coordinator, is on the 2007 Textbook Adoption Team for Cobb, and has worked with McGraw Hill Publishing as a textbook editor. She is a 2006 Who's Who Among American Teachers, past member of Phi Beta Kappa, and had the honor of being the 2005 Georgia Association of Educators escort for the state spelling bee winner to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. Mrs. Baylor has a special place in her heart for the Spelling Bee; since 1985 she has been involved at the school level, later moving on to pronounce and judge county competitions; and has been the Georgia Association of Educators District 2 Spelling Bee Consultant for the last six years. In her spare time, she is the editor for the Cobb County Teachers Association Newsletter and Area Representative. Her students and colleagues view her as a wealth of knowledge and continuously call upon her as a mentor and resource. Her expertise and wisdom have guided many young minds both in and outside of the classroom. Not too long ago she was visited by one of her students who had recently graduated from college. When asked what was his major, he replied," political science." He said that her enthusiasm for an election's unit was the catalyst for his career. In her zest for learning new technology with her students, she piloted the use of the Promethean Board. Her students were enthralled with Google Earth and the interactive map puzzles that she used to practice their map skills. Quickly adapting to using the white board she produced an interactive Venn diagram on the three major religions. She was asked by the Promethean Representative if he could use it for his demonstrations! Mrs. Baylor and her students were so excited about the technology that the school ordered one for each of our new classrooms. Mrs. Baylor is particularly good at producing i-Movies. Her students' first attempt was an award winner, "Children: Zones of Peace." A future Steven Spielberg found his passion, and she hopes he will come back and visit her when he is famous. Three years ago her team won best documentary for "Got Water?" which focused on the areas of the world today that are water stressed and how that can effect everyone in our world in the very near future. Both videos may be viewed on iTunes. She has mentored student teachers and fledgling professionals including her daughter, Jennifer, who is following in her mother's footsteps. Her strength, love of education, unquenchable thirst for knowledge, and ever constant ability to change and adapt has kept Mrs. Baylor at the forefront of her professional community and her TiVo forever full of educational programming.
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Ms. Cynthia Blevins Ms. Blevins enjoys reading, traveling, and writing. She has enjoyed running the Peachtree Road Race for the past few year, learning how to do home improvement projects such as installing wood floors and loves chocolate, watching movies, and spending time with friends and family. In Ms. Blevins’ classroom, students will have the chance to be creative, learn about themselves and express their ideas through writing in a safe but challenging learning environment. She enjoys working with students and helping them reach their potential as thinkers and writers. Ms. Blevins is looking forward to this year at Mabry and to the opportunity of getting to know her students and seeing their personal successes throughout this year. |
Mrs. Sharon Bockman 
Mrs. Sharon Bockmon holds her master’s in Education and has over 20 years of teaching experience in the public and private sector. She loves teaching Special Education at Mabry, and has an affinity for the Middle School Student. She considers her role as a Learning Strategist one that can benefit all the students she come in contact with.Mrs. Bockmon has two sons who are in college, one who is on a Lacrosse Scholarship, so she will not be far from a game on weekends during the spring. She and her husband enjoy riding motorcycles, although, admittedly, her most comfortable seat is on the back. Mrs. Bockmon, supports the Cobb Community as a Volunteer Usher at the Cobb Energy Center for Performing Arts, and has held a position on the Executive Board of the Georgia Junior Miss Scholarship Program. Living and working in New York City gave her the opportunity to become a great lover of the theater, especially a Broadway Musical. Mrs. Bockmon makes at least one yearly trip to New York to get her Broadway “fix” and to visit the two nieces that she dotes on. An active member of her church, Mrs. Bockmon leads worship as a member of the choir, and has participated as a member of the drama team and dinner theater ensemble. |
Mrs. Bowman is such a homebody that when her husband and she bought a house, they ended up moving just 2 miles from the house that she grew up in. She has attended the same church (Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church) since 1978 and has always been an active part of the congregation by teaching Sunday School, volunteering for Vacation Bible School, being on various committees, helping and/or running the children's ministry programs, ushering, etc. Mrs. Bowman's family consumes the majority of her free time. She has been blessed with a fantastic, fun-loving husband, and two wonderful daughters. Her parents live close by, too. They are all very important to her and help make her who she is. They spend a lot of time together participating in all kinds of activities and sharing their lives with each other. They especially enjoy spending time in the mountains and at the beach whenever they have the chance. In Mrs. Bowman's "ME" time, she is an exercise enthusiast, she loves to read, enjoys shopping, cooking and surfing the net. She enjoys relaxing on her screened-in porch, watching the beautiful pigeons her husband raises while they fly around her back yard. As an 8th grade teacher, Mrs. Bowman enjoys her job. Her day is spent helping students learn the math they need to know to be successful, while working with a group of teachers who are caring, enthusiastic and good-humored. She is looking forward to continuing to improve her technology skills this year as she learns more about the Promethean Board in her classroom while continuing to work with the state's new GPS standards. |
Ms. Bruce |
Mrs. Brown-Curry taught all grade levels and all branches of middle school science at least once in her career. She also has a strong math background. One can tell that Mrs. Brown-Curry is passionate about her field by simply stepping into her classroom or joining one of her class discussions. She is an energetic, optimistic and enthusiastic instructor with the gift of extrinsic motivation. She respects and values her students' input and opinions. She believes that all children can and will learn and has made it her personal mission to help each child strive to reach his/her maximum potential. |
Mrs. Burke has a degree in secondary language arts as well as her gifted endorsement. Before becoming a teacher, she worked in the field of journalism. In fact, Mrs. Burke was one of Ted Turner's original employees at CNN, Cable News Network (from 1983-1986) where she helped man the International News Desk. She eventually became a production assistant for the Business News Desk. This valuable experience greatly contributed to her teaching style. During the summer Mrs. Burke enjoys working out every day, reading, and taking her nine-year-old daughter to the pool. |
Mr. Brumbill Mr. Brumbill was born & raised in Michigan & then spent several years in Phoenix, Arizona before moving to Georgia. “I miss the snow, but I don’t want 9 months of it.” He has 3 children that he lovingly calls “monsters”, age 14, 11, & 8. When not teaching, Mr. Brumbill enjoys reading, walking, spending time with friends & family, playing his Native American flute & drum, collecting comic books & usual decks of playing cards, or taking naps, “one of God’s greatest gifts to humanity.” When his students tell him that he’s weird, he only says, “I know” & laughs. And, yes, he knows that he’s short, so you don’t need to tell him. |
Mrs. Leslie Carroll
Mrs. Carroll's hobbies include "anything science" and her passion, golf. This summer she has been working on her golf game and traveling. Mrs. Carroll and her husband Rob have two wonderful sons, Robert and William. William is a doctoral student in organic chemistry at the University of South Carolina and Robert is working and swing dancing in Atlanta. |
Mrs. Chouinard-Jahant She moved to Atlanta ten years ago. She returned to college and received a BS in Education from Kennesaw State University, a Master's in Education from the University of Phoenix, and is currently completing her doctoral degree in Educational Psychology from Walden University. She holds teaching certificates in middle grades gifted education, science, social studies and language arts. She has been teaching in Cobb County for four years at Tapp Middle School in AC science, and this will be her second year at Mabry teaching 7th grade science and AC social studies. Mrs. CJ has three children Gabrial, Zachary, and Elijah, and they all attend Davis Elementary School. She loves to travel, read, and spend time with her family. She loves to collect snow globes, teapots, and masks on her travels and has many from around the world. She loves her morning Starbucks and starting the day teaching and sharing ideas. She loves being able to share her experiences and discuss world issues with her students whether they are science or social studies based. She also loves to mentor students and was science club coordinator at her last school. At Mabry she will sponsor the Georgia BEST Robotics competition and Future City Competition with Mrs. Carroll. |
Michelle Conger
Michelle began her teaching career in elementary grades and, after 7 years in the classroom, moved into public programming at the Denver Museum of Natural History and the Audubon Zoo. As the director of life sciences education for the next ten years, she developed curricula for school tours, travel programs and continuing education for teachers. Michelle also had the opportunity to work with National Geographic, the Smithsonian and World Wildlife Federation in locations around the world. Since then, she has happily returned to the classroom where she feels her greatest satisfaction working one on one with such “amazing students.” Michelle spends most of her leisure time with her horses and daughter, Liza, who is a senior at UGA in pre-med. She lives with Maggie the Wonder Dog and Cali the Cosmic Cat.
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Mr. Connelly
Mr. Connelly enjoys working in his yard and on home improvement projects around the house. He sings in the choral group “The Michael O’Neal Singers” along with his church choir. He is married with three children aged 25, 22, and 19. |
Mrs. Cushman is one of our 6th grade LA teachers. A veteran teacher with a rich twenty-five year history, she is passionate about teaching children the arts of language. She has been on the Mabry staff for eleven years and a Cobb County teacher for twenty-one years. Mrs. Cushman’s family lived in the Mabry community for 25 years. Her children attended Rocky Mount Elementary, Mabry, and graduated from Lassiter High School. Her son is a Georgia Tech graduate and her daughter is a graduate of Kennesaw State University. As the daughter of a Navy Captain, she spent two years in Pearl Harbor and learned to swim with the dolphins at Waikiki Beach. Her family was there to celebrate Hawaii becoming the 50th state in our union. After her father's retirement, the family settled in New Bern, North Carolina, where she enjoyed New Bern's rich, colonial history. Her family participated in water sports of all kinds-she even had her own sailboat! Mrs. Cushman received an Associate of Arts degree from Peace College in Raleigh, North Carolina, and a Bachelor of Science degree from East Caroline University in Greenville, North Carolina. Mrs. Cushman enjoys working in her yard and loves curling up with her cat to read a good book. |
Mrs. Davis loves to show students a picture she had taken with Bill Nye, the Science Guy, at the NSTA conference that was held in Atlanta. Having the picture taken made her feel like a real science geek! Mrs. Davis has taken students to the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park. Students have enjoyed hiking, seeing wildlife such as wolves, bears, bison, coyotes, elks, and moose. Students experienced geysers, the Continental Divide, and the Grand Teton mountains. They also enjoyed Las Vegas for the Grand Canyon trip and Old Faithful and Jackson Hole, Wyoming for Yellowstone. Mrs. Davis volunteers as the awards coordinator for the Strong Legs Run, for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. One of her hobbies is scuba diving, and she have been diving in Negril, Jamaica, Panama City, Florida, and in the Living Seas Tank in the Epcot Center of Walt Disney World, which was so exciting because she was in the tank with many different species of fish, stingrays, and even a shark. More of her hobbies include scrapbooking and funk aerobics. Her father was in the Marines, so Mrs. Davis lived in South Carolina, Virginia, California, and Tennessee. After graduating from Middle Tennessee State University with a BS in Aerospace Administration, she was commissioned into the U.S. Army as an officer. She attended Officer Basic Course and Helicopter Flight Training at Fort Rucker, Alabama, where she learned to fly the UH-1 (Huey) and the OH-58A (which are like the traffic helicopters that fly over Atlanta) with over 500 flying hours. After completing flight school, she was sent to Bad Kreuznach, Germany near Frankfurt and was part of the 8th Infantry Division. While in Germany, she and her husband traveled all over Germany, France, England, Austria, Switzerland, and Berlin. The Mabry students love to hear about the helicopters that Mrs. Davis flew, weapons that she shot, and the many places to which she has traveled. Mrs. Davis loves her second career, teaching, and loves to do lots of hands-on experiments. Her students don’t just read about science, they do science! She has her Master’s Degree in Middle Grades Education from Mercer University in Atlanta, is married to a teacher, and is the mother of two boys. |
She is responsible for keeping our attendance records. If you have a question about your (or your child's) attendance, feel free to contact her.
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Mr. Doemel was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Southeast Missouri State University and his Master of Music degree from Florida State University. He spent 4 years in the US Army and was stationed at Ft. McPherson in the Forces Command (3rd Army) band. Mr. Doemel has been a professional musician for 27 years now, playing french horn for his 20th season with the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra. He has taught a total of 15 years, all in Cobb County, at Nash, Campbell, Dodgen, and Mabry middle schools. This is his 7th year at Mabry. Under his leadership, the Mabry Symphony performed at the 2006 Georgia Music Educators Conference, which is a notable honor. He has arranged for the commission of a new work for full orchestra to be premiered at the Georgia Music Educators' Association Conference this year. Outside of the school day Mr. Doemel stays busy with family activities including traveling and sports. Other interests include coaching youth baseball, teaching religion classes and playing in a community band. When asked for a little-known fact about himself, Mr. Doemel responded, "I used to have really killer hair." |
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Mrs. Evans received her Bachelors degree at Penn State University. She majored in art education. She taught for three years in Doylestown, Pa. after college, then moved to Marietta, Ga. where she became a stay-at-home mom and taught private art lessons. After three years in Marietta she and her family moved to Washington D.C. From D.C. it was on to Sarasota, Florida, for 10 years. In Sarasota Mrs. Evans taught pre-school for nine years and was a volunteer art mom at the local elementary school. From Sarasota it was back to Marietta, Georgia. She has lived in Marietta longer than any other place, so it is considered her home. She worked at a Montessori school for two years and was a parapro at Teasley Elementary for ten years. During this time Mrs. Evans was an ASP director, taught summer camps at the YMCA and The Marietta Cobb art museum. She was the art teacher at Powers Ferry Elementary for three years and was voted Teacher of the Year. From Powers Ferry she went to Adairsville Middle School for three years and is glad to no longer be making that commute. Mrs. Evans' husband is a P.E. teacher in Cobb, and she has two children and two step children. Her daughter is an 8th grade science teacher. She loves animals and hiking in the mountains, going to art exhibits and creating art. She has been a volunteer at Kennestone Hospital and Cobb Animal Shelter. Her goal is that every student understands and appreciates the importance of art and creativity in our world. Her passion is to see a student enjoy creating an art work and being proud of his/her accomplishment. We always look forward to seeing what incredible work her students will post around the school next!
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Mrs. MaryAnn French
Mrs. French teaches language Arts and reading with the seventh grade team. Mrs. French has been teaching in a variety of positions, for 32 years, 23 of which have been in Cobb County. Mrs. French is certified in both general education and special education in preschool thru 5th, middle grades 4th, Mrs. French has worked in a variety of educational positions, including, residential center for children with severe behavior disorders, proprietor of state licensed daycare center, Happy Days Learning Center, with ages two through five in New Jersey. She also piloted the co-taught program at Kincaid Elementary, worked as an elementary special education Lead teacher in the North Cobb Cluster from 1999-2004, and Mrs. French did some ad junking for the College of West Georgia. Mrs. French was born in a small town in Hammonton, New Jersey. Mrs. French’s hobbies include gardening, exercising, playing with her dogs, Wrigley and Samie, and singing and dancing while cleaning. |
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Mrs. Graber 
Mrs. Trellys Graber is one of our 7th grade math teachers. She has been teaching for 15 years, all of them at Mabry. She has received three degrees in Middle Grades Education: a Bachelor of Science Degree from The University of Georgia, a Masters Degree from Oglethorpe University, and a Specialist Degree from Mercer University. She is also certified in gifted education. Mrs. Graber was Teacher of the Year for the school year 2002-2003, and has been named to Who's Who Among America's Teachers.
Mrs. Graber continues to be faithful to The University of Georgia and the Georgia Bulldogs, which is apparent when you look in her classroom. During football season, she doesn't miss a Georgia football game, whether at the stadium or in front of her TV. She enjoys the rivalry with her husband, also a teacher at Mabry, who is faithful to Auburn University. Mrs. Graber's favorite thing to do is spend time with her three sons. She can't believe how fast they are growing. She also enjoys playing with her two dogs, Sugar and Mabry. Sugar is, of course, an English bulldog, and Mabry, a mix, was a gift from her students ten years ago. When the babies are a little older, Mrs. Graber plans on getting involved in ALTA again, as she loves to play tennis. |
Coach Graber attended Auburn University and earned two education degrees: a Bachelors Degree in 1994, and a Masters in 1997. As an undergraduate he was a member of The Auburn University Marching Band where, as a freshman in 1989, he got to march in the Inaugural Parade for President George H. Bush. Mr. Graber's wife is Trellys Graber, one of our 7th grade math teachers. They are the proud parents of twin sons born November 5, 2004 and had another son in June 2007! Naturally they spend most of their spare time with them. Coach Graber is very active with our Intramurals program. He loves team sports. |
Ms. Hansard is following in the footsteps of her grandmother, mother, 2 aunts and 1 uncle by entering the classroom. This is her 25th year; her first 15 years were at Tapp Middle, and this is her 11th year as a Mabry Charger. Her dedication to the profession has been blessed, often, but being named to Who's Who Among America's Teachers three times by former students makes it even more rewarding. Her spare time involves a love of football; as her classroom displays, she is an avid fan of the UGA "Dawgs." She, also, enjoys singing in the church choir, working in the yard and country music. [She went to SHS w/ Travis Tritt.] Ms. Hansard's free-time does not involve as much travel as she'd like, but when able, she "does it up well." In the last few years, she enjoyed a week in Hawaii and a cruise to Alaska, which evolved from the generosity of a former student who played professional football. Her time at Mabry involves the Charger Club and assisting in fund-raising. In one fund-raiser, she was fortunate enough to "win" the opportunity to kiss Wilbur, a live pig! |
Mrs. Hartnett enjoys reading, walking, being at the beach (any beach, at any time), and spending time with her friends and family. Born in Havana, Cuba, she is fluent in Spanish AND "Spanglish" ! She is often heard around Mabry indulging in her first language with the Spanish teacher . Mrs. Hartnett was Mabry's Teacher of the Year in 2005-2006 and still feels thankful and honored for the privilege of representing her colleagues. She teaches eighth grade language arts, a position she feels is the perfect fit for her. She believes strongly in the importance of teaching writing to her students, a skill that she is convinced has become paramount to success in one's academic and professional goals. "The challenge that comes with this position is exciting and unique. Eighth graders are creative, funny, and impassioned, themselves, about every aspect of their lives. How can one not thrive being around them every day?" |
Mrs. Heflin Mrs. Heflin began her career as a high school special education teacher in rural Southern Illinois. Having grown up as a city girl in Chicago, she found the change in culture both interesting and exciting. She has been fortunate throughout her career to work for innovative districts which offered rich opportunities for learning and leadership. Previous leadership roles in Illinois and Indiana include: Curriculum Coordinator, Assistant Director for Special Education, Assistant Principal, and Principal of a Catholic school. She has earned a Bachelors of Science and Masters of Science degree from Southern Illinois University. Her most recent participation in the Principal’s Institute at Harvard University this summer is reflective of her continued priority on lifelong learning. Mrs. Heflin has always had a passion for success, and strives to meet varied goals reflecting a balance in life. She is a caring professional who is exceptionally proud of her personal accomplishments as a wife, mother, sister, and friend to many. She has been happily married for twenty-seven years, and has two adult daughters. Her oldest daughter Rachel is a special education teacher at Rocky Mount Elementary, while her youngest daughter Lauren has just graduated from Georgia Southern University. Both girls are products of the Cobb County School District, having attended Blackwell Elementary, McCleskey Middle, and Sprayberry High School. This year Mrs. Heflin’s theme for Mabry is: “Mabry has HEART: High Expectations, Achievement, Relationships, and Technology.” Students have followed her lead by researching and sharing daily quotes with her. A quote she lives by in leading middle school students is: |
Mrs. Hendrix Mrs. Hendrix's 3 children have all now completed college; both red-headed daughters have Masters Degrees. Katie teaches French and Spanish in Rochester, New York (her husband is a direct descendant of Sir Francis Drake), and her daughter Beth is 4. Julie is a registered dietician (her husband works for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers). Joseph has a Computer Information Systems degree from Kennesaw State, and referees high school basketball. Mrs. Hendrix's other interests include music, sports, crafts, and travel. She sang her first solo when she was 4 years old, and has sung in school choruses, church choirs, been a church accompanist, children's choir director, and children's musical director. She plays piano (for pleasure only), and has maracas, castanets, and cats paws (musical rhythm instrument). Mrs. Hendrix has also been involved in swim meets - setting up, coordinating, and running meets, and also serving as a swim meet official. She is now learning to play golf, and her number one goal is to get a birdie. Mrs. Hendrix also enjoys cross-stitch and creating scrap books. She has traveled to Bermuda, London, France, and Canada, and lived in Georgia, Florida, California, Maryland, and New York. After spending almost 20 years in upstate New York, Mrs. Hendrix is enjoying the warmer climate of Georgia, especially after surviving a rollover accident (the day after a snowstorm) caused by black ice, and landing upside down hanging by her seat belt. Ask her about the limerick she wrote describing the accident. A life-long learner, and voracious reader, Mrs. Hendrix completed an online course in Information Literacy last summer, and read 28 books! She loves Middle School students' enthusiasm, creativity, and inquisitiveness, sharing books with students, and discovering the world of information with them. This is where life happens, and it is never boring! |
When asked about her professional passion Mrs. Hieber said, "I enjoy making a positive impact in student's lives. It's especially rewarding to be able to change students' false belief systems, and turn them around so that they can achieve academic success and feel good about themselves." Mrs. Hieber's personal hobbies include water sports, interior design, and bargain shopping. She loves driving her new sporty car as well. Mrs. Hieber is involved with various church activities, and she sponsors a child from Sri Lanka.
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Mrs. Mary Julia Hiss Mr. Howard His undergraduate degree is from Troy State University and he began his teaching career thirty years ago in Cobb County. Mr. Howard has earned his Master's in Middle Grades Education from West Georgia College and his Specialist Degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Georgia. He is a member in the Phi Delta Kappa Educational Fraternity and was the past president of the Kennesaw Mountain Chapter. Mr. Howard is an active member of the Presbyterian Coalition for Habitat for Humanity and has just completed helping build their 20th house in Cobb Co. All of the homes have been for families that have children that attend Cobb County Schools and Marietta City Schools. He really enjoys seeing the families move into a home that provides a safe and stable environment for the children. He loves to travel, read biographies , and do wood working. He has a thirst to learn new teaching strategies, new uses of technology, and collaborating with the wonderful Mabry teachers. Mr. Howard has a large collection of ties that the students find interesting. He is eager to lend a helping hand at Mabry with anything that is needed to assist students and staff. He enjoys being part of the school community at Mabry and is proud to be a Charger. |
Mrs. Ingram has been a nurse for 11 years. She has worked in Critical Care for over 4 yrs. She has been a part of the Cobb County School District for 6 years now supporting nursing clinics as an Itinerant Nurse and working directly in the school clinics. This is Mrs. Ingram's second tour of duty at Mabry and she is delighted to be back. She truly enjoys getting to know the kids and helping them get well and stay healthy! Outside of school - Mrs. Ingram stays busy with her family, friends, and the community. She has a husband and a son who is 14. She is "team mom" for her son's football team and supports his classroom at his school as room mom. She also enjoys traveling with her family and has enjoyed trips to Maui, Hawaii and a cruise in the Caribbean. |
In the classroom, Mrs. Israel likes to make learning interesting, fun and challenging. A gifted-certified teacher, Mrs. Israel shares the subjects she teaches in creative and engaging ways. She believes in guiding students to discover their own answers to the questions they ask. Teaching languages (including English) is much more to Mrs. Israel than instructing students to converse, read and write well. Studying other cultures offers students the opportunity to understand many diverse societies. Mrs. Israel's goal is to foster in her students a deeper understanding of and appreciation for other people. Outside of school, Mrs. Israel's passions are her family and friends, reading, animals, cooking, sports, and surfing (the Net!). She can often be found reading a book while curled up with one or more of her three pets. When she's not reading or at the computer, she may be in the kitchen or on the tennis court. Over the past few years, Mrs. Israel has caught the travel bug. She has led groups of students to Quebec, Italy, Switzerland, Monaco, and France! These trips have been the highlight of her life as she shares with others the cultures of the countries she loves, studies, and teaches. Mrs. Israel's inspiration is her mother, herself an educator for nearly 40 years. Her mother's zest for life, her cooking prowess, her love of learning, and her enthusiasm in the classroom are models that Mrs. Israel aspires to create in her own life. Little known about Mrs. Israel is that she is a relative of the late Larry Fine of the Three Stooges! |
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She has presented educational sessions at: teacher forums at the University of Miami and Arizona State University, numerous state and national conferences such as the National Middle School Association and the National Council of Teachers of English, and national educational programs at museums, school districts, community institutions, and university classes. Proud recognitions were when she received the 2004 Spirit of Anne Frank Educator Award from the Anne Frank Center in New York and the 2005 Georgia Distinguished Educators’ Award presented by Governor Sonny Perdue.
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Mrs. Klucsarits  Mrs. Donna Klucsrits is beginning her tenth year at Mabry, and is teaching seventh grade math. She has had a variety of educational experiences and constantly strives for academic excellence.
Mrs. Klucsarits received her Masters Degree in Special Education from Florida State University. After teaching at a private school in Thomasville, Georgia, for three years, she relocated to the Atlanta area where she continued to pursue her educational endeavors. She completed her add-on certificate in Educational Leadership at the University of Georgia, and received a Specialist Degree in Administration from the University of West Georgia in December 2005. Mrs. Klucsarits became a certified math general education teacher in 2007. Mrs. Klucsarits married in 2002, and she and her husband have a beautiful four year-old daughter and seven month-old son. Besides work, school, and family, Donna enjoys caring for her two cats, Sherman and Callie. She also enjoys reading, baking, tennis, and following her beloved Florida State Seminoles.
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Mrs. Kulkarni  Mrs. Kulkarni teaches 7th grade life science and comes to Mabry from Simpson Middle School. In 2004, she was one of the 15 Georgia teachers to receive the Best New Teacher Assistance grant from Georgia Power Company. She was nominated by Kennesaw State University for this grant.
Mrs. Kulkarni emphasizes hands on activities in her classroom and believes students learn best by experimenting and investigating. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Education in addition to her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Science. She came to the United States from India in 1996. We are delighted she is a member of the Mabry family.
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Mrs. Lambert 
Mrs. Amy Lambert is the Cafeteria Manager at Mabry. This is her 11th year with Cobb County and her 6th at Mabry Middle School.
Mrs. Lambert is originally from Florida where she was a stay-at-home mom of 2 boys: James and Joe. When her husband's career moved them to Georgia she looked for part-time work that would allow for maximum family time. Becoming a "lunch-lady" at her children's elementary school was the answer. After 4 years at Baker Elementary, Mrs. Lambert loved her job so much that she decided managing a cafeteria of her own was the perfect next step. She landed here at Mabry in August of 2004 and plans on being here a very long time. Mrs. Lambert seems to know exactly what the kids are looking for when they come to lunch, after all she's feeding two growing teenage boys at home. In her spare time she feeds and educates the North Cobb Football team about sports nutrition. She is also the secretary of the Touchdown Club. Along with the boys and husband Jim, Mrs. Lambert shares her home with 2 dogs, 2 cats and lots of fish!
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Ms. Larkin  Ms. Ingle Larkin teaches 7th grade Life Science at Mabry. Ms. Larkin came to us from Pensacola, Florida. In fact, she was raised on the beach and spent some time actually living on a boat. Ms. Larkin used to swim with wild dolphins in her backyard, the Gulf of Mexico. Another way cool fact about Ms. Larkin is that her dad, a high ranking military officer, used to drop his kids off at school in a helicopter. He'd land on the blacktop or the playing fields!
Mrs. Larkin has been a lifeguard for 12 years, and is now a Red Cross Instructor for lifeguarding, first aid, and CPR. Her best childhood memories, aside from the beach, are of National Wildlife Camp, a wilderness survival summer camp sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation. The camp is located in North Carolina. She was a camper for 8 years. Her experiences with plants and animals at this camp are what lead her to become a science teacher. In her spare time she is a counselor at Camp Greystone in North Carolina, teaching swim lessons and working with the children and youth at her church. Her community passion is working in homeless shelters and tutoring homeless children. Ms. Larkin's best friend is her Pug, Chica. She likes Life Science because it is gross, fun, interactive, and relevant to the real world all at the same time. Plus, the kids are really into gross and fun! This school year she says that she is looking most forward to iMovie (her team took home a coveted statue), Jekyll Island, and Piggy Week! |
Mrs. Lippincott  Mrs. Libby Lippincott teaches 6th grade math. This is her 16th year of teaching: 6 Years at Crescent High School in South Carolina and this her 10th year at Mabry. She coached volleyball and JV basketball while at Crescent High School and was even the Teacher of the Year there!
Mrs. Lippincott was awarded the Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year, which means a lot to her because it is awarded based on student nomination. Her family really believes in education. Her mother is a retired teacher. Her two older sisters are teachers in South Carolina (one is an elementary school teacher and the other teaches preschool). Her brother is a high school teacher, teaching drivers education and PE. He also coaches two sports: football and baseball. Mrs. Lippincott spends most of her free time with her 3 wonderful children and her husband! The boys are very involved with baseball, and her daughter enjoys softball. Mrs. Lippincott's hobbies include playing tennis, and she loves to watch just about any sport (except golf, and soccer). She enjoys swimming and going to the beach. She states, "I love teaching math and enjoy showing students that everyone can learn math." |
Mrs. Manderano Her professional passions include writing and character education. She states, "In developing a student ready to face the challenges of this new millennium, a student must be well-rounded not only academically, but be able to communicate and develop a positive social conscience. We often underestimate the capacity for change that our students can exert upon our world, and I am forever fascinated by the untapped gifts that our students bring to the classroom. It is my job to tap these valuable resources and make the students aware of their strengths at a tender age when they are unsure of what their contribution may be to our school and world." When not in the classroom, Mrs. Manderano enjoys playing tennis on both her USTA and ALTA teams. She also enjoys playing the piano and spending time with her friends and two girls, Mim and Jada, and her husband, Jim. Her family is the light of her life! Professionally, Mrs. Manderano states that she has been blessed to have been chosen by her colleagues as Mabry's Teacher of the Year for 2004-05. However, her most meaningful accolades were to be selected by former Mabry students for the Who's Who Among America's Teachers for the years 2001 and 2005, 2006, and 2007. Such recognition proves to her that a positive educator can have a tremendous impact on a student's life, and it continues to be not only her job but, as she says, "an honor" each year. |
Ms. McCall
 Ms. Tracy McCall is one of our Physical Education teachers and the yearbook sponsor at Mabry. She came to Mabry seven years ago after teaching in the state of Florida for 14 years. As a matter of fact, all of her teaching experience has been at the middle school level and she has just completed her 22nd year!
Coach McCall is a third generation teacher. Her grandfather taught history and was a basketball coach. Her mother was also a PE coach. Before coming to Mabry, Ms. McCall was the Teacher of the Year at 2 different schools in Florida: Gifford Middle in Indian River County, and Westwood Middle in Alachua County. Most people don't know that notaries in the state of Florida can perform marriage ceremonies. Ms. McCall, once a notary in that state, performed 5 weddings to couples who remain married to this day. Of the five weddings, she performed one on a sandbar, and another on a barge, both at sunset! |
Mrs. Leslie Ann McCoy Mrs. McCoy has a passion for learning and challenging the minds of young adolescents. She is currently receiving her Master’s degree in Inclusive Education from Kennesaw State University.
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Mrs. Miceli  Mrs. Teresa Miceli is a 6th grade social studies teacher at Mabry. She was born and raised in Homestead, Florida, one of eight girls, six of whom have degrees in education and are teachers! She is full-blooded Italian as both of her parents were actually born in Italy.
Mrs. Miceli received her AA at Maimi Dade Community College and her BA at the University of West Florida. She earned her Masters Degree from the State University of West Georgia in 1996 and actually moved to the state of Georgia to teach here. Mrs. Miceli began her teaching career as a Behavior Disorders teacher in Dekalb County before moving to Cobb County to work as a Learning Disabilities teacher. After 12 years as a special education teacher, she started teaching in the regular education classroom, teaching 8th grade reading, 7th grade social studies, 6th grade social studies, and now 6th grade gifted social studies. Mrs. Miceli started teaching in 1980, and in 1983 she began teaching at Mabry Middle School. She just completed her 29th year as a teacher, and has been in the Mabry family now for 27 years. Mrs. Miceli has been the social studies coordinator for the last five years and is currently Mabry's Teacher of the Year! She is married and has a 19 year old son. Mrs. Miceli loves to travel and has been to Alaska, 7 Western European countries, Mexico, and several Caribbean Islands, as well as the Southeastern and Western United States. One of her favorite vacations was when she and her son (with 2 of her sisters) went snowmobiling in Yellowstone National park. It was cold, but so much fun. Mrs. Miceli loves working with 6th graders and is looking forward to another great year at Mabry! |
Ms. Miller
The last few years she has worked at the Intermediate level in The Woodlands, Texas, and recently returned to the Atlanta area. Mrs. Miller has been employed in the field of education for over 24 years and still looks forward to the beginning of school each year. She enjoys teaching as much as she does learning. She believes that her job is more than teaching a subject area, but to make a difference in student's lives. Students will not remember what they learned, as much as they will remember the connections they made during middle school. Mrs. Miller is married and has two daughters in college. Jessica is at the University of Houston and Sarah is attending the University of North Texas. Outside of school, Mrs. Miller stays busy volunteering and supporting numerous charities, cooking, watching football and planning her next beach vacation.
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Ms. Mitchell  Ms. Amanda Mitchell has been teaching 6th grade Math for 9 years, all of them at Mabry. She loves to see students’ faces light up when they finally get it, and she likes to try and find ways to make math easier to understand, and to help relieve math anxieties for sixth graders. No one should be scared of math! Ms. Mitchell is a southern girl from Albany, Georgia, where she lived her entire life until going to college at Valdosta State University. She moved up to the big city about 9 years ago and recently got her Master’s degree in Adolescent Math Education at Kennesaw State University. Her "most favorite thing to do" is lie on the beach and read a good book! |
Mrs. Moncrieff
Ms. Moncrieff has also tutored extensively from home for eight years in all levels of math through high school. She believes that this experience has had an incredible impact on her teaching. She was fortunate to be awarded the Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year for 2005, a tremendous award, since it is a result of student nominations. (And yes, she now even has her very own blue vest.) And for fun? Well, this summer, Ms. Moncrieff has traveled extensively to California, Canada, Washington State, Florida, Washington DC, (talked to Tiger Woods) South Carolina and North Carolina. She has visited friends from college, and friends she met in the third grade!! She has even managed some pool time! You can catch her most days fitting in time for the gym, working in the yard, cooking or just enjoying life with two teenagers! Ms. Moncrieff is quick to say that "Life is fun, life is good! Anyone a Gamecock fan?" She went to the University of South Carolina for her undergraduate degree and attended Georgia State for her Masters in Education. This will be her 9th year at Mabry, and she is looking forward to a great year! Mrs. Kim Morton |
Ms. Osterfeld Prior to joining Mabry, she worked 18 years for a software company in various positions supporting, designing, and testing financial and investment accounting systems. She graduated from Jacksonville University with a degree in Economics. She enjoys gardening, reading, and walking her shelter-adopted dog, Molly. You can reach Ms. Osterfeld at 770-928-5546, extension 227. |
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Mrs. Parades 
Mrs. Parades was born and raised in New York. She comes from a large and loving family with 3 sisters and a brother. She received her bachelors degree from the University of South Florida in Tampa, and she has been a beach girl ever since! A life long learner, she also holds a master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Lesley University. Prior to Mabry, she spent 6 years at Daniell Middle School teaching 7th grade language arts. This year she will teach seventh grade language arts. Before moving to Georgia, she taught 6th, 7th, and 8th grade at Hillel School, a private school in upstate New York for a total of 11 years in education teaching language arts. Married to a wonderful man, Michael, for 13 years they have two really cool kids: Michael, age 12 and Aviana, age 8. Both of their children attend Cobb County Schools, even though they currently live in Cherokee because she values the system and sense of community that Cobb offers. Mrs. Parades loves teaching and she understands that real learning takes place when students are engaged and challenged. |
Mrs. Parker genuinely loves working with parents, getting to know them when their child is having learning problems. She strongly believes that mutual work between the school and home is utterly essential to getting to the bottom of learning problems and solving them. But her greatest pamost given up, only to discover that they really can be successful and are, in fact, very capable learners. Mrs. Parkerssion is knowing and working with individual children, watching these children blossom when they have al's phone number is 770 928-5558. |
Ms. Pennisi and her husband moved here and immediately fell in love with Georgia’s southern hospitality. She is thrilled to have this opportunity to teach your children and show her excitement toward the Spanish language and various cultures where Spanish is spoken.
Her husband and 9 year old daughter Elisa were both born in Italy, which leads them to speak English, Spanish and Italian at home, ensuring that Elisa will be trilingual. Ms. Pennisi lived in Carolina, Puerto Rico before moving to Italy. Her experiences in both Italy and Puerto Rico changed her life, and developed her love for foreign languages and cultures. Every aspect of her life has been influenced by living abroad and believes that everyone should open his or her mind and learn a language and meet someone new! |
After the birth of her two sons, she remained a stay-at-home mom while teaching aerobics, substitute teaching, and teaching preschool. She returned to school, attended Breanu University, and became certified in language arts and social studies. Mrs. Pettett also received her Masters Degree in Educational Leadership from Kennesaw State University. She has been an educator in Cobb County for 16 years, with nine of these years spent as an instructional technology specialist and three as an administrator. She has been married for 30 years to her college sweetheart, David, and her children are products of the Cobb County School System and attended Harrison and Kennesaw Mountain High School. Christopher is 25 and works in technology, while Brett is attending medical school at the University of Virginia. She loves curriculum and sees marketing and teaching as closely related - with teaching selling the excitement of learning. Mrs. Pettett enjoys riding her bike and can be found on the Silver Comet Trail on the weekends. She also enjoys walking her dogs, camping and gardening. |
She is married to Jerry for 26 years and has two sons, Christopher and Tim iwho recently graduated from Ga Tech with an aeronautical engineering degree. When she is not at school, Mrs. Preston enjoys gardening and vacationing at the beach. She hopes to really retire to the beach someday! |
When she is not in the classroom, Mrs. Rand enjoys spending time with her husband, Harry, her two children, playing with her pet children, reading, music, tennis and traveling with her husband of 34 years. Mrs. Rand has been heard saying, that her 7 years at Mabry have been her "happiest years of teaching." She has always been happy working at other schools, but she has felt a great sense of pride being an instrumental part of creating a new program at Mabry. She loves working with her students and parents. And when she didn’t think things could get any better, her peers voted her 2005-2006 Teacher of the Year. What an honor! |
Mrs. Rosengren
 Mrs. Mary Rosengren is the Mabry Middle School Secretary. She has been working for Cobb County schools for 28 years and began as a substitute teacher in the 80’s. She has been a special ed parapro at Kincaid Elementary, worked at the “The Children’s Center” in Marietta, which was later named The Hawthorne Center in Smyrna and is now called Haven Academy. After working there for several years, Mrs. Rosengren transferred to Central Alternative. In 1996, she became the secretary for Mabry Middle School and has called Mabry home for 12 years. Mrs. Rosengren and her husband of almost 43 years, Erik, employed with IBM for 38 years have three children, twin boys who were born in Germany and a daughter who was born in New Jersey. The Rosengrens moved to Marietta from New Jersey 30 years ago. She says that she will never return and states, "In fact, I am still trying to lose the Jersey accent!" Mrs. Rosengren has three grandchildren and one great grandchild. The eldest child is Erik (yes, another Erik in the family) is 23 years old and in the National Guard for training; he has a daughter, Ansley, Mrs. Rosengren's great granddaughter, who is 4. Her next grandchild is Isabella (named after her great great grandmother), she is 11, and she resides in North Carolina with her mother. Last, but not least, is Tyler. He is Mrs. Rosengren's daughter’s son. He is 8 years old he really enjoys riding the “big boy’s bus” to school. What a fun time it is at the Rosengren house during the Christmas holidays. Mrs. Rosengren loves spending time with her family, watching the Braves and Falcons with Tyler, who calls her “His GaGa”, and shopping with her daughter and grandson. Mrs. Rosengren also enjoy reading, gardening, and working on the computer. Mrs. Rosengren's father-in-law, Erik, who she refers to as her dad, is still living. As a result, they have 5 generations of Rosengrens. They take good care of their dad. Mrs. Rosengren states, "I take great pride in Mabry, telling anyone who is willing to listen just how great our school is, not just our test results but also our technology. Our staff is the best, willing to help out anyone at anytime. Our students are the best, for their eagerness to learn, and of course, our parents who pitch in at a moment’s notice to make Mabry the Super School it is."
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Mrs. Rudick
 Kimberly Rudick (formerly Mrs. Noon) begins her third year at Mabry and hails from a small town in western New York near Niagara Falls. She just got married this summer and she has one older brother, and a brand new sister-in-law who is a 4th grade teacher! She also has the best parents in the world, who supported her moving all the way to Georgia!
She received her Bachelor's in history with her education certification from SUNY Geneseo. Kimberly loves animals, especially cats! She has three, sadly one of her kitties, Oscar stayed home in New York to keep her parents company. The other two, Link and Max she rescued from local animal shelters.
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Mrs. Gina Schluneker Prior to pursuing a career in education, Mrs. Schluneker’s business administration background opened up an opportunity for her and her husband to be self-employed in the glass and glazing industry for over twenty years. Even as a Vice-President of her business she volunteered at her children’s elementary school and soon realized her heart was drawn to pursue a career in education in order to work with children and helping them be prepared and successful in life. Mrs. Schluneker is a mother of three children and wife of twenty-nine years to her husband, Greg. Both her daughters reside in Woodstock, Georgia and her son lives in Denver, Colorado, an avid snow boarder . She loves to travel and explore new environments. The most breathtaking sight was traveling in Canada and visiting Niagara Falls and its monumental power and beauty. The Schluneker’s house is full of love and excitement having 5 Chihuahuas, one cat, and a grandbaby is expected this winter. Mrs. Schluneker has been recognized for her outstanding achievements working with middle school students when she was nominated for: Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers and the William Dwyer Award (Teacher of the Year in Palm Beach County). She says it’s very rewarding to help develop a strong sense of self confidence in young children and watch their excitement when they recognize they are maturing into successful thinkers and achievers. |
Ms. Shaw feels it is important to reach out and help others less fortunate. She has been the Charger Club Sponsor (a community service club) for 15 years. Our activities include collecting food, toy, school supplies, and clothes for the needy and pet food for endangered dogs and cats. Ms. Shaw is active in the community and has received several community service awards for work performed.
Ms. Shaw is a Georgia Tech fan and loves the rivalry with her "Georgia" colleagues. |
Ms. Skinner Ms. Skinner is a 2009 graduate of Professional Association of Georgia Educators Teacher Academy. The academy is a two-year program designed for new teachers who show great promise. Only 30 teachers from across the state are chosen to participate in the academy each year. Participants attend classes with nationally-recognized speakers in technology, classroom management, data analysis, Georgia Performance Standards, and teacher leadership. A proud native of Cobb County, Ms. Skinner enjoys reading, being outdoors, watching movies, playing trivia, and all things Carolina blue. |
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Mrs. Slater  Mrs. Catherine Slater is one of our hard-working and dedicated paraprofessionals. This will be her ninth year at Mabry. Mrs. Slater is from Upstate New York where she worked as a Certified Teacher Assistant. There she worked at a private school for 7 years and a public school for 6. She brings to Mabry not just her experience with children but also her love for working with them. Mrs. Slater enjoys spending time with her two daughters, and her two grandsons keeps me very busy. She spends time reading, and camping, and traveling throughout the United States. She especially enjoys sharing with students information about places she has visited. |
Mrs. Spannagel
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Mrs. Stephens  Mrs. Stephens teaches 8th grade AC Social Studies and is currently the Advanced Learning Program Lead Teacher at Mabry. She has been in the field of education for 26 years, and her background is filled with a variety of teaching experiences and educational training. She has completed her Specialist's Degree in Middle Grades and Gifted Education and has taught middle school language arts, life science, and social studies. Mrs. Stephens has taught gifted endorsement classes and is currently an Assistant Professor for the Gifted Education online courses at UGA. She was recently awarded a grant in the Expanding Frontiers Teaching American History Grant Program and traveled to New York, Boston, and Philadelphia with historians in order to develop lesson plans to use in her classroom.Mrs. Stephens is passionate about history and strives to make history come alive for all students. One of the highlights of her teaching career was when she received training in gifted education - she states that it truly changed the way she teaches all of her students. This background has enabled her to differentiate instruction and challenge all students to their highest potential. On the personal side, Mrs. Stephens is unique in that she is a Mabry and still lives on the 40-acre farm on Wesley Chapel Road that has been in her family for over 100 years. In 2004, the governor awarded the Mabry family a Centennial Farm Award from the State of Georgia. Although Mrs. Stephens still loves to travel, she is very happy to have built her dream house on her great-grandfather's land, where she enjoys gardening and creating flower landscapes. Mrs. Stephens has a 28 year old son, Josh, and a 24 year old daughter, Jenna. |
Mrs. Jennifer Stepp |
Mrs. Suggs is an avid Georgia Bulldog fan with her Masters degrees in both Math and Social Studies. She is married with 2 children (One is a dedicated swimmer and baseball player, and the other is a ballerina.)
Mrs. Suggs hobbies include reading, tennis, and scrapbooking. Her professional passions: "to see the "lightbulb" come on above children's heads as they piece together all of the pieces of history. I also love to see children be successful - it kills me when children don't try their best, and therefore don't make the best grade possible. At the same time, I don't like to give away grades. I feel students should earn every grade - effort goes a really long way with me!!!"
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When asked what her professional passion is, Mrs. Treadwell said, "To facilitate each student's achieving his or her personal best. I believe each child can be successful in the area of mathematics, and I strive to help each child find the way that he or she "learns best."
Mrs. Treadwell has an unusual hobby, horseback riding and equestrian activities. She has had her own horse, Gold 'n Glory, for 11 years. They trail ride and participate in local horse shows. She is an active member of Georgia Equine Rescue League, a volunteer organization that helps starved and abused horses throughout the state of Georgia. |
In 2002 Mr. Vernie moved to Atlanta,Georgia, to be closer to his family. Some of his hobbies include carpentry, automotive restoration, U.S. history (particularly World War II and the Cold War), and he is a huge University of Miami fan. Mr. Vernie truly enjoys working and preparing sixth grade students. He has trained and worked on i-Movie projects and enjoys helping students with technology. In fact, the two different 6th grade iMovie teams he has coached over the past three years took home trophies at the Mabry film festival, including winning the Best Picture category. |
Mrs. Robin Wann |
Mr. Ron Watterson Mr. Watterson’s wife Donna manages a high rise condominium complex in Buckhead. He has three children. His son Alex graduated from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta and is Director of US operations for Pivod Technologies , an Australian based company. Son Nick is completing his senior year at Oglethorpe majoring in business administration. Son Ryan is starting his third year at Anderson University in Anderson , South Carolina where he is studying to become a physical therapist. “ I’m really proud of my boys. All three of them have done well academically and all three of them have had the good fortune to be good athletes and play college basketball. I have no doubt that they are going to be successful in life as well. “ I am really excited and honored to be part of the Mabry family and look forward to teaching these outstanding students”.
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Therese Westpha After moving to Georgia she went to Kennesaw State University and added on Middle Grades certification. She taught computer science at St. Joseph in Marietta. She loves learning and considers herself a life long learner. At home she enjoys working in her flower beds and gourmet cooking, especially making desserts. She enjoys going on nature walks and bird watching as a means of exercising and relaxing.
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Ms. White
 Tammy White is our sixth and seventh grade (A-J) counselor. This is her third year at Mabry and her ninth year as a school counselor. Besides working in the school system, Tammy has been working in private practice with adolescents and adults for over 12 years. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Georgia and a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC). This year, she was awarded “Student Counselor of the Year” from the Licensed Professional Counselors Association (LPCA) of Georgia.
Tammy earned her BS in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Houston and her MA degree in Counseling from Webster University. Currently, she is a doctoral candidate in the Counselor Education and Supervision (CES) program at Argosy University. |
Mrs. Worthington In her free time, you will often catch Mrs. Worthington with a calligraphy pen in hand as she pens quotes, poems, awards, and posters for her classroom. (By the way, if you are interested in learning calligraphy this year, you might be able to persuade her to have some morning sessions!) You will rarely catch her without a book in hand, and she challenges her students to join her to reach way above the 25-book goal. On the weekends, you will often find her visiting local bookstores. The trip is a special success if she finds a new book for the classroom; each Monday she does a book chat for the new book addition for the classroom library. You might say she is a bit book crazy and proud of it! Collections abound in the Worthington house: quotable quotes, picture books, humorous monster characters, calligraphy pens, bookmarks, logic puzzles, word-play activities, interesting words, and tidbits of trivia are just some of the things she likes to collect. When asked who her favorite authors are, she will, without hesitation, say: “My talented young authors at Mabry Middle School, of course!” |
Mrs. Jill Armijo is one of our hard-working and dedicated paraprofessionals.
When Mabry opened its doors in 1978, Mrs. Lisa Bowman was here as a student. Six years later, she graduated from Lassiter High School. She then earned both her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Education at what is now Kennesaw State University. Mrs. Bowman taught at Floyd Middle School for 4 years, got married and transferred here to Mabry. This will be her 18th year at Mabry (her 22st year of teaching).
Kimberly Bruce is a native of Marietta, Georgia and a alumnus of Lassiter High School. A flute player, she received her Bachelor of Music Education degree from Kennesaw State University. She is currently working towards a Masters of Music Education degree at Kennesaw State University. While in college she performed with the Wind Ensemble, Flute Ensemble, and various chamber ensembles. She has also performed with the Atlanta Wind Symphony, Cobb Wind Symphony, the Georgia All-College Band, and the College Band Directors National Association Intercollegiate Band. Additionally, she has performed at Carnegie Hall with the National Wind Ensemble. Mrs. Bruce has had the fortunate opportunity to perform/conduct at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic on three separate occasions, 1996 with the Lassiter Symphonic Band, 2003 with the Cobb Wind Symphony and 2007 conducting the Mabry Middle School Band. While working with the flute section and drum majors, Mrs. Bruce has been an instructor with the Lassiter H.S. Marching Band since 1999.
Mr. Brumbill begins his second year of teaching at Mabry and came to us with nearly a decade of teaching experience. In his words, “Teaching is the only job for me. I love kids… I love science… I love learning… this where all of my loves intersect.” 
Michelle is a graduate in life sciences from Tulane University and earned her masters in special education from the University of New Orleans. She attended post-graduate classes in animal sciences at the University of Colorado. 
Mr. Connelly is our Assistant Principal. He was born and raised in Berea, KY graduating from Berea College with a degree in Industrial Technology with a minor emphasis in Agriculture. During college he worked as a blacksmith, butcher and barn builder as part of the tuition deferment plan. He worked as an architectural designer for eight years before moving to Memphis, TN where he completed his Master’s degree in Education. He taught for five years before becoming an administrator at a K-8 school in Shelby County, TN. Mr. Connelly then moved to East Cobb and worked at J. J. Daniell Middle school as an Assistant Principal before moving to Mabry Middle School.
Mrs. Beth Decker is our Pupil Personnel Clerk.
Mr. Chris Doemel is the Orchestra teacher at Mabry. He does an excellent job of preparing our students to participate in the Lassiter Orchestra Program. It just so happens that Mr. Doemel's wife is the orchestra director for Lassister High School.
Mrs. Judy Evans is the art teacher at Mabry Middle School. This is her fifth year at Mabry. She was born in Bethesda, Maryland and says that she was raised as a military brat (her father was a Rear Admiral in the Navy). One of the highlights of her youth was living in Athens, Greece (courtesy of the Navy).
Mr. Tim Graber is one of Mabry's Physical Education coaches. He also teaches Health. He has been a teacher in Cobb County for 12 years, all of them at Mabry. Coach Graber, who grew up in Opelika, Alabama, had two loves in High School: playing offensive tackle for the Opelika Bulldogs and playing lead trumpet in the Opelika High School Jazz and concert bands. He says that it was a blast being able to do music and sports.
Mrs. Deana Hansard is our In School Suspension teacher. She is also in charge of our morning Study Hall, which begins at 8:15AM this year. She is one of a few: she was born here in Marietta at Kennestone Hospital and remains in Cobb County today. She graduated from Sprayberry High School, a Lassiter rival. She earned her Bachelor's Degree at Kennesaw College in Middle Grades Education, with a major in math and a minor in language arts (which her students will verify since she is consistent in helping them with their correct grammar).
Mrs. Gail Hendrix was born in Athens, Georgia, and was raised in Jacksonville, Florida. She completed her B.S. degree in English Education from UGA in 3 years, and has been married for 35 years to a Georgia Tech graduate. When her children were 5, 8, and 11 years old, she completed her Masters of Library Science from the State University of New York at Albany in 1 year.
Born in Cuba, Mrs. Terri Hieber, one of our outstanding special education teachers at Mabry Middle School, speaks Spanish fluently. She attended Georgia Military College in Milledgeville, Georgia, from the eighth grade until she graduated from high school. Later, she attended Georgia State University, where she earned a B.S. degree in Biology and a masters degree in Special Education. She has been in education for 28 years, 22 of which have been at Mabry.
Mrs. Mary Julia Hiss has been a media center paraprofessional for over 15 years in ?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /> Cobb County . She has worked at Rocky Mount Elementary, and McCleskey, Dickerson, and Mabry Middle Schools . She was born and grew up in Gadsden , Alabama . A graduate of the University of Alabama (ROLL TIDE!), she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education (History and Political Science). Mrs. Hiss has taught middle and high school social studies (including one school where English was spoken as a second language). 
Mr. David Howard has taught 31 years in Cobb County with 8 of those at Mabry. He presently teaches 7th grade Social Studies on team 72. He believes that the world is the true classroom for learning and bringing technology into his Social Studies classes allows exploration into all corners of the world. With both parents in education and great teachers in his life, Mr. Howard became a life long learner at an early age. His wife, Angela, is also a middle school educator in Cobb County and he has two sons. Matt recently graduated from North Georgia Military College, while Peter is at N. Metro Tech . Mr. Howard loves working with the Boy Scouts (ask him if you need help) and both of his sons have earned their Eagle Scout Award.
Mrs. Sandy Ingram is the School Nurse at Mabry. Mrs. Ingram was born in El Paso, Texas, and grew up primarily in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science from Lander University and her Nursing Degree from The University of South Carolina.
Mrs. Eve Israel teaches 8th grade French and reading at Mabry. She has taught for 12 years in Cobb County and 8 years at Mabry. Mrs. Israel has a degree in Sociology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. After staying home with her daughter, Jessica, until she entered grade school, Mrs. Israel attended Kennesaw State University, where she received a degree in Foreign Language Education. In May of 2007, Mrs. Israel completed her Master’s Degree in Educational Administration, also at Kennesaw State University.
Mrs. Cindy Jackson is our 8th grade counselor. She also serves as the counselor for half of our 7th grade students. Mrs. Jackson has worked at Mabry for 12 years and is always extremely helpful. If you need to "bend her ear," she is eager to help you. Living in our community, with two children who attended Mabry and Lassiter, she will certainly understand your concerns. One child currently attends UGA and the other is a recent graduate.
Mr. Lamar Johnson teaches Business Education and Technology Education and is a graduate of Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, where he earned his B.S. in Accounting and a teaching certificate in Business Education. Before teaching at Mabry he taught at Alpharetta High School in Fulton County where he taught EXCEL and Computer Applications.
Mrs. Johnson is our Speech-Language Pathologist. She holds the Certificate of Clinical Competency through the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA).
Renee Kaplan, a National Board Certified teacher, the highest teaching credential in the nation, has thirty years of teaching experience, and is an eighth grade Advanced Content Language Arts teacher and the Reading Coordinator. Mrs. Kaplan is a member of the Regional Education Corps of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and is recognized nationally for designing, implementing, and evaluating community, state, and national programs on the Holocaust. She has studied as a teacher fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC and in the international countries of: Germany, Israel, France, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary. 
Mr. Charlie Kornegay is one of the outstanding special education teachers at Mabry Middle School. He has been a teacher at Mabry for over 16 years. Mr. Kornegay works with students who have difficulties successfully meeting school expectations or progressing as expected academically. He is adept at matching school requirements with student abilities to assure adequate student learning. Mr. Kornegay also works collaboratively within the faculty to develop and implement individualized student behavior management plans.
Mrs. Romaine Manderano grew up near the South Carolina coast in Dillon, South Carolina. She graduated from the College of Charleston with a degree specializing in specific learning disabilities and behavior disorders k-12. The irony of her major is that she began her career as a pre-med major and was turned onto education by none other than, you guessed it, a dynamic educator!! She has taught for 24 years in the special education field in a variety of settings...rural Georgia and South Carolina, inner-city Dekalb County, and at Mabry for 12 years. 
Mrs. Kim Morton is a special education teacher. She was born in Marietta, Georgia and has always lived in the South. Mrs. Morton has a B.S. in Secondary Social Science from Kennesaw University and is also certified in Middle Grade Reading and Interrelated Special Education. This will be her 13th year in education. She taught for three years in Paulding County, eight years at Mabry, and spent one year teaching fifth graders at Chalker Elementary. 
Mrs. Betty Parker is our Special Education Lead Teacher. She is an extraordinary resource for the parents of our special education students. She has worked in the field of education for 37 years and been at Mabry for 19. She taught special education students in several states before becoming our Special Education Lead Teacher. Mrs. Parker is especially proud of the Mabry Special Education Team – a well-rounded group of dedicated professionals who love their students and go many extra miles in providing the best education for our students.
Ms. Pennisi is Mabry’s 8th grade Spanish teacher. Ms. Pennisi begins her third year at Mabry and previously taught at Barber Middle School. She studied at Harcum College and received a degree in fashion design. Later she studied ESOL at Temple University and found her true passion, Spanish language and culture. Subsequently, she graduated from West Chester University in Pennsylvania with a BA degree in Spanish. 
Mrs. Wendy Pettett, a native of Cobb County, with deep roots in the North Georgia Mountains, is our assistant administrator. Ask her about her childhood on Blue Ridge Lake and she will wax nostalgic. Mrs. Pettett has a BBA in marketing from Georgia Southern University and sold computers for Burroughs Corporation before the advent of the personal computer.
Mrs. Jo-Anne Preston spent 28 years with BellSouth and retired as a Staff Manager from the Network Department in June, 1996. She has been involved with technology with the Cobb County District for the past 11 years and has been at Mabry since 2001. She manages all of our technology at Mabry, which is no small task. Not only does she keep up with what is where and when, she also keeps all of our desktops and laptops happy. She works miracles.
Mrs. Jackie Rand is one of Mabry’s outstanding special education teachers. She graduated from Jersey City State University with a BA in Special Education and from Georgia State with an MA in School Counseling. This is the beginning of her 19th year teaching Special Education. Mrs. Rand taught 2 years in New Jersey and 17 years in Cobb County and is beginning her 7th year at Mabry. She says that, "I know my best years of teaching are still ahead of me."
Mrs. Barb Spannagel is one of our Physical Education coaches at Mabry. She is also the PE Coordinator. Mrs. Spannagel was the Mabry Teacher of the Year in 2000 - 2001 and Cobb County's middle school physical education teacher of the year in 2001. She graduated from a small, private college in South Carolina which practically no one has ever heard of, Coker College. She has been teaching in public schools in Cobb County since 1987 and has been at Mabry for the last 20 years.
Mrs. Wann is one of our 8th grade special education teachers. Please check back soon for more information about Mrs. Wann.
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Mrs. Cathy Worthington is one of our 7th grade language arts teachers. She has a rich career as an educator, having taught for over 36 years! She brings a wealth or perspective and expertise to Mabry. Mrs. Worthington is presently working on her doctorate in education and is often doing homework and research in the evenings. She enjoys being a teacher during the day and a student in the evenings and on weekends.