Jennifer Diemer – Employee of the Year – Oak Ridge School

At the Sandwich Public Schools’s Opening Convocation on September 2,  Trish Hill, principal of the Oak Ridge School, announced the Oak Ridge 2015 Employee of the Year with the following remarks:

Welcome back everyone!

2014-2015 was certainly a year of great change and transition at the K-6 level and I want to acknowledge the kindness, patience and support I had from our amazing K-6 team at Oak Ridge.  I want to say what an honor and a privilege it was to have been given the opportunity to lead this team.   And as much as I am looking forward to what is to come, I want to honor and respect all of you who made Oak Ridge a special place.

I am so grateful to be an educator.  I feel that education, the opportunity to work with students, to inspire, to be in service to others and to impact who they see themselves as learners and as people isn’t just a job, it’s not even a career path, but a calling.

Today I have been asked to highlight the contributions and efforts of one of our educators.

This year, I’d like to honor the contributions of an individual whose efforts made that calling visible.  I’d like you to know about Jennifer Diemer.

Jen is one of our ESP’s.  This past year was certainly a year where Jen’s passion for education took center stage.

Just over a year ago, all of our ESP’s were trained in Leveled Literacy Intervention to support students.  Through that training Jen was ignited.  She was eager to put her new learning into practice and did an amazing job supporting children in seeing their potential as readers and as learners.

Jen also was a key member of our Reorganization Planning Team.  She participated in several site visits.  Her observations, questions and insights helped to shape our thinking and planning for our new school.  She would test run ideas she had seen in other schools in Oak Ridge, not willing to wait for next year.

These site visits sparked her curiosity and creativity and her leadership.  As part of the RPT she presented to staff, worked collaboratively with parents and administration to move forward ideas that will impact the future of the Oak Ridge School: from scheduling, climate and culture, community partnerships and after school offerings, I cannot say enough about how valuable Jen’s insights were to this team.

As part of her work on the RPT she volunteered her own time to welcome our new students, coming to all of our Welcome Back Nights and answering questions of parents and students.

Jen also works for Kohl’s and through her work at Kohl’s and as part of their Kohl’s Cares Initiative, Jen has used this position to improve our school.  Jen has worked to help move various projects forward and helped us gain grant funding and volunteers for our Peace Garden and revitalization projects at Oak Ridge.

Finally, there’s MCAS.  All I can say to the rest of the administrators up here is I feel sorry for you.  Because you don’t have Jen.  Jen is instrumental to the planning, execution and follow up of the nitty gritty of MCAS.  As a new principal, I can’t express how grateful I am for this support.  I mean, I really cannot express the depth of my gratitude!

In addition, Jen is a leader among her ESP colleagues.  She would often be the one who would be the voice that would represent their interests and concerns.  She would work collaboratively  with administration not just to identify the problem but to offer ideas and solutions.

In the New Oak Ridge we are focused on the 7’Cs:  Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking, Curiosity, Community and Character.  Jen – you embody all of these through your efforts and passion for the Oak Ridge Community.

Please join me in honoring our Employee of the Year, Jennifer Diemer.