Signatures:Signatures 2/25/13 4:25 PM Page 1
Reach Publisher and Editor Gregory Enns at
772.940.9005 or enns@indianrivermag.com.
I f you’ve followed our magazine
for the past 10 years, you know
that we’ve tried to spotlight the
work of some of our region’s unsung
heroes in our annual teacher profiles
in the spring issue. It’s our small
part to give more attention to the
importance of the teaching profession
and the contributions teachers make
to our community.
In the past, we relied on writers
and editors to come up with the
subjects. But this year, we added a
twist. We asked readers to nominate people who they thought should get the spotlight and
featured as an Outstanding Teacher of the Treasure Coast.
The profiles of our winners, Emma Puttick of Imagine South Vero Elementary in Indian
River County, Frank Irizarry of John Carroll in St. Lucie County and Greg Squier of the
Pine School in Martin County, appear beginning on Page 108. Puttick and Squier were
nominated by parents of students while Irizarry was nominated by one of his students.
The nomination of Squier by parent Leslie Herlin spoke of how Squier has influenced
Herlin’s two sons, one a senior at the Pine School and the other a junior in college majoring
in English, the same subject taught to him by Squier.
The nomination recalled a great English teacher I had while a student at John Carroll
more than 35 years ago. I had the good fortune to have a woman named Jane Ghericich as
my American and English literature teacher.
Maybe it was my aversion to mathematics that drove me to find intellectual shelter in
her literature classes, but I suspect more deeply that it was Ghericich’s passion for the
subject. When she taught, you could easily visualize Jonathan Edward’s loathsome spider
being held over a fire, see Oliver Wendell Holmes’ last leaf clinging to the tree, or watch the
figures come alive on Keats’ Grecian urn.
In my senior year taking Ghericich’s English literature class, I was especially riveted by
the sections on the Irish poet William Butler Yeats. Ghericich herself had traveled to Ireland
and visited Yeats country in County Sligo. She talked of the beautiful mountain Ben Bulben
and of seeing Yeats’ grave and the immortal words written on his tombstone: “Cast a cold
eye on life, on death, Horseman pass by!”
The images so captivated me that after college I later traveled to Ireland, first spending
time in Dublin and then hitch-hiking to see the land of Yeats that Ghericich had so vividly
and passionately described. I took a boat on the Lake Isle of Innisfree, subject of one of
Yeats’ famous poems, and payed homage at his grave in Drumcliff Churchyard.
All this because I had been inspired by a teacher in a classroom an ocean away a few
years earlier. Today I think it’s remarkable, but the many nominations we received for this
year’s contest assure me that such magic continues to happen every day in classrooms
across the Treasure Coast.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
Publisher & Editor
Gregory Enns
772.940.9005
enns@indianrivermag.com
Associate Publisher
Allen Osteen
Writers
Janie Gould, Jerry Shaw,
Camille S. Yates, Willi Miller,
Susan Burgess, Sandra Thurlow,
Gloria Taylor Weinberg, Donna Crary,
Catherine Enns Grigas, L.L. Angell,
Rick Crary, Greg Gardner
Christina Tascon,
Siobhan Fitzpatrick Austin
Photographers
Ed Drondoski, Bob Dobens,
Rob Downey
Design
Michelle Burney
Copy Editors
Jay Goley, Judith Collins
Cover Photo
Rob Downey
Advertising Coordinator
Laurie Cox
772.466.3346
laurie@indianrivermag.com
Advertising Representatives
Marsha Lange
772.237.1717
marsha@indianrivermag.com
Sunny Gates
772.204.5043
sunny@indianrivermag.com
Robert J. Macchia
772.834.1075
robert@indianrivermag.com
Julie Strater
772.205.2316
julie@indianrivermag.com
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A TREASURE TO READ
Indian River Magazine Inc. is a locally
owned company based at 308 Ave.
A in Fort Pierce, FL 34950 Indian River
magazine publishes five times a year: early
October, late November, mid-January, early
March and early May. All material contained
herein is copyrighted by
Indian River Magazine Inc.
Magic in the classroom
4
Greg Squier of the Pine School in Martin County, Emma Puttick
of Imagine South Vero Elementary in Indian River County, and
Frank Irizarry of John Carroll in St. Lucie County were selected
as Outstanding Teachers of the Treasure Coast through nominations
of Indian River Magazine readers.
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