"SWOFF", FUHS '39 AND OTHERS HONORED
Elva "Swoff" Swoffer and 18 other FUHS teachers or staff members each have an FUHS library computer dedicated to them with a screen saver that features their picture. Their biography is available to students clicking onto the library Web site.
Diane Oestreich, current FUHS librarian, hopes that donations will come in for more computers that she can dedicate.
The Orange County Register has an article about this in the 2-24-08 "Local" section (page 13) of the paper, but it is not on the internet.
Diane Oestreich, current FUHS librarian, hopes that donations will come in for more computers that she can dedicate.
The Orange County Register has an article about this in the 2-24-08 "Local" section (page 13) of the paper, but it is not on the internet.
Here is the article in the Fullerton News Tribune that Diane Oestreich sent me. The photo above was taken by Mark Martinez of the Orange County Register.
Teachers immortalized
A Fullerton Union High School alumni survey recognizes top choices for screensaver stories.
By BARBARA GIASONE STAFF WRITER
A Fullerton Union High School alumni survey recognizes top choices for screensaver stories.
By BARBARA GIASONE STAFF WRITER
Few Fullerton Union High School students ever see the Wall of Fame in the administrative offices where distinguished alumni are remembered.
Librarian Diane Oestreich hopes her Favorite Teacher or Administrator project has a bigger impact.
Oestreich has surveyed alumni at recent all-class reunions. And the library’s 19 computers have been individually renamed and equipped with screensavers of the most popular staff members. Students clicking onto the library Web site can see the biographies.
“This is a tremendous link with the past and brings it into the future with technology,” said Wayne Daniels, 71, who taught science from 1962 to 1993 and has a screensaver of him. “I always enjoyed kids at this stage of their lives, plus being involved (with them) out of the classroom in clubs and as a class adviser.”
Retired physical education teacher Elva “Swoff” Swoffer, 86, has a screensaver, too. An international water-skiing champion, she received many votes because of her enthusiasm.
She once rigged up a way to teach water skiing in the school pool, cycled from Fullerton to the beach with her classes, led kayak and canoe races, and earned a bus driver’s license so she could transport students to the local bowling alley.
“We had teams of five – four to bowl and one to handset the pins,” she recalled.
The librarian said as donations come in for more computers, she hopes to dedicate each one to another favorite teacher or administrator.
The screensavers went live in October.
Initially, the librarian said, the students wonder what these screensavers are all about. But once they connect the teacher to local history, they become interested.
“Teachers are the ones who put us through high school and get us ready for college for our future,” said John Lien, a senior at Fullerton Union. “(The) teachers being honored are the ones who motivated students to become successful.”
This is the biographical information that the student will see on the library computer:
By Diane Oestreich, FUHS librarian
When she was a little girl of six, Elva Swoffer vowed that she would grow up to be a physical education teacher at Fullerton Union High School. She kept the goal before her through elementary school and junior high school, then as a high school student at FUHS herself (Class of 1939) and all through college. Fulfilling her dream, “Swoff,” as she was nicknamed, became a teacher at FUHS in 1943. She retired in 1979.
She taught swimming, field hockey, bicycling (including rides to the beach and back), archery (on the front lawn), volleyball, softball, and bowling. She obtained a bus driver’s license so that she could shuttle students to the local bowling alley for bowling class before school. At first, some students bowled while the others served as pinsetters, but when a bowling alley opened with automatic pinsetting machines, the group traveled to that venue instead, so that everyone could bowl.
Swoff taught water ballet. On January 8, 1954, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Jerome Kern musical “Show Boat” would be staged in the FUHS pool in April and would include music, motion, and surprise effects, under the supervision of swimming instructor Elva Swoffer.
Her passion for swimming and water sports led her to rig up a means for students to actually water ski in the FUHS pool, using a device powered by their fellow students. She taught water safety, including lifesaving techniques.
Until knee surgery slowed her down, Swoff served in the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. The California Department of Boating and Waterways named Elva Swoffer as the 2003 recipient of the Distinguished Public Service Award. In the year that she turned 71, Swoff conducted 30 safety patrols on Lake Perris. She donated more than 200 hours to patrolling, assisting 137 vessels and 403 persons, and contacting 2,970 individuals regarding boating safety and education. She also participated in 10 safety patrols off the coast of Long Beach. She was also a personal watercraft (PWC) operator and conducted safety patrol on her PWC, educating young PWC operators on the Rules of the Road.
Swoff was also a pilot and owned her own plane until a few years ago. A small airplane pin is visible on the red blazer she wore for her OC Register photo shoot in the FUHS library in February 2008.
A woman of pioneering, “can-do” spirit, Swoff even published an article on how to make your own waterskis.
In her 36 years of service at FUHS, Swoff said what she enjoyed most was watching “problem kids” in school grow up to become successful, solid citizens.
By Diane Oestreich, FUHS librarian
When she was a little girl of six, Elva Swoffer vowed that she would grow up to be a physical education teacher at Fullerton Union High School. She kept the goal before her through elementary school and junior high school, then as a high school student at FUHS herself (Class of 1939) and all through college. Fulfilling her dream, “Swoff,” as she was nicknamed, became a teacher at FUHS in 1943. She retired in 1979.
She taught swimming, field hockey, bicycling (including rides to the beach and back), archery (on the front lawn), volleyball, softball, and bowling. She obtained a bus driver’s license so that she could shuttle students to the local bowling alley for bowling class before school. At first, some students bowled while the others served as pinsetters, but when a bowling alley opened with automatic pinsetting machines, the group traveled to that venue instead, so that everyone could bowl.
Swoff taught water ballet. On January 8, 1954, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Jerome Kern musical “Show Boat” would be staged in the FUHS pool in April and would include music, motion, and surprise effects, under the supervision of swimming instructor Elva Swoffer.
Her passion for swimming and water sports led her to rig up a means for students to actually water ski in the FUHS pool, using a device powered by their fellow students. She taught water safety, including lifesaving techniques.
Until knee surgery slowed her down, Swoff served in the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. The California Department of Boating and Waterways named Elva Swoffer as the 2003 recipient of the Distinguished Public Service Award. In the year that she turned 71, Swoff conducted 30 safety patrols on Lake Perris. She donated more than 200 hours to patrolling, assisting 137 vessels and 403 persons, and contacting 2,970 individuals regarding boating safety and education. She also participated in 10 safety patrols off the coast of Long Beach. She was also a personal watercraft (PWC) operator and conducted safety patrol on her PWC, educating young PWC operators on the Rules of the Road.
Swoff was also a pilot and owned her own plane until a few years ago. A small airplane pin is visible on the red blazer she wore for her OC Register photo shoot in the FUHS library in February 2008.
A woman of pioneering, “can-do” spirit, Swoff even published an article on how to make your own waterskis.
In her 36 years of service at FUHS, Swoff said what she enjoyed most was watching “problem kids” in school grow up to become successful, solid citizens.
posted by Connie @ 1:59 PM
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