Susan Skripko, Elizabeth White, Renee Hughes, Paul Felty and Daryl Wessner- their names are synonymous with education and combined they have 159 years of experience teaching generations of students within Pine Grove Area School District.

Susan Skripko is in her 38th year of teaching at Pine Grove Area Elementary School. She started out teaching 4th grade then moving to kindergarten with a year of third grade in between. Skripko then began teaching 2nd grade in 2003. Pine Grove is her hometown and she loves teaching young children.

“I did not grow up in the age of technology, so I had a lot to learn. I still do a lot of paper/pencil activities and use paper tests, so I sometimes feel younger teachers disagree with my ways of doing things. As long as my students continue to make progress, I will continue to use my old ways of teaching,” says Skripko.

Skripko continues, “One of my fondest memories is seeing former students become colleagues, either as teachers, paraprofessionals, or support staff. It has also been memorable teaching children of former students. Another joyous moment was watching my twin daughters go through our district, but my biggest thrill is having 3 grandchildren in the elementary school with me this year.”

Elizabeth White has been working in Pine Grove Area Elementary School for 32 years. 4th grade has always been White’s favorite grade to teach. White feels as though when she first started teaching that there was less stress on teachers.

“Over the years with state testing becoming such a priority and teacher evaluations put in place, we did away with so many of the fun activities we used to do,” says White.

Now if she misses a day, White stresses over trying to keep her schedule in alignment. White has continued to teach for so long because of her students.

Paul Felty is a middle school science teacher. “I am an alumnus of Pine Grove Area and have lived and raised a family in Pine Grove and I enjoy the small community feel,” says Felty.

His favorite lessons are ones that involve physics. “I enjoy talking about and teaching Newton’s Laws of Motion. These concepts come together in my favorite project, which is the 6th grade egg drop,” says Felty.

“No day is the same in my area of curriculum. I especially enjoy helping at sporting events, community events or working within my co-curricular,” says Renee Hughes.

Hughes, not only is the FBLA and Student Council advisor, but works at sporting events as security where she is seen cheering on the cardinals. Hughes has been a part of security for the last 15 years.

Hughes, an alumna, has worked at PGASD for 30 years. Hughes favorite thing is working with the students and helping them learn something new everyday. One reason why Hughes has been working at Pine Grove Area for so long is because of being a small part of her student’s future success.

“I enjoy current events and students knowing what is going on in the world around them,” says Daryl Wesser.

Wessner, an alumnus, has been working at Pine Grove Area High School for 29 years in various capacities, “I think I get wiser with age.”

Wessner continues with, “My favorite memory was taking a Friday off and chaperoning 1 of several buses to Hershey to watch the girls win a state basketball championship.”