is magazine 8.1 - Autumn/Spring 2005 - International Schools ...

Profile of a remarkable
teacher
Linda Duevel pays tribute to Wilma
Anderson and her contribution to
The International School of Stavanger
One of the very normal aspects of international schools is that
they experience an annual turnover of both students and staff
members. We thank them for sharing their gifts with our school
and wish them well. But this tribute is to someone who left the
school to retire in June and about whose contributions to our
community I could write chapters, rather than paragraphs. That
individual is Ms Wilma Anderson.
Ms Anderson initially came to Stavanger in 1973, invited to
join the school by the then director, Miles Lovelace, at a time
when the school took a quantum leap toward developing its reputation
for curricular excellence. Looking back at the individuals
who joined the school’s faculty in 1973, it included an amazing
group of young professionals whose first overseas educational positions
were in Stavanger.
Many stayed overseas for long periods and later served as
administrators in 14 leading international schools world-wide,
showing how a small school situated on the fjords of the Far North
has had a substantial impact on international education. But more
importantly for ISS, some of those individuals chose to stay here
in Stavanger. One of those was Wilma Anderson.
She grew up on a farm near Brockway, Pennsylvania where she
worked hard both inside and outside of school. Her Swedish
ancestry has always been an important part of her persona – in fact
she journeyed to Sweden to be married to Karsten, in the same
church her grandmother attended before immigrating to America.
Besides working on the family farm, she also worked in a factory
job at the Brockway Glass Company every summer while she was
at university. Already knowing in high school that she wanted to
become a mathematics teacher she graduated from Penn State
with a major in mathematics and a minor in science. Several years
later, she went on to Northwestern University, earning a Master’s
degree in mathematics.
She taught for a decade at Addison Central High School in
Addison, and perhaps she would have stayed there longer had not
her college room-mate at Penn State married a gentleman named
Miles Lovelace. When Dr Lovelace became the head here in
Stavanger in the early ’70s and went searching for the finest
American teachers he could bring to – what was at that time –
Stavanger American School, he knew who he wanted to increase
the level of mathematics excellence at the school. The result, as
they say, is history.
Wilma Anderson was involved in every aspect of creating a permanent
standard of educational excellence at the school. When
the school was initially accredited in 1974 – only the third international
school in the world to acquire that standard – she could
rightly take pride in being involved in a wonderful effort of the
staff and school community. That was her first accreditation here
– last year she was involved in our school’s fourth ten-year-cycle
successful accreditation effort.
During the period since she arrived here in 1973, twice she left
to go to other opportunities that then brought her back to ISS
with additional experiences that only increased her worth to the
is Autumn 2005
Spring
Profile of a remarkable teacher
Wilma Anderson.
school. She worked for two years at then Phillips Petroleum, initially
as a technical analyst, and then as the training coordinator
for the computer department, planning the training schedule and
teaching some of the computer courses.
And a few years ago, when her husband, a highway engineer,
was invited to Zambia on a Norwegian-sponsored highway construction
project, she found herself teaching middle school mathematics
at the American International School of Lusaka. She
returned to ISS, with rich experiences and wonderful stories of her
encounters with snakes in her classroom and on bush walks.
By my count, she has worked with five directors and 12 high
school principals here at ISS. If it were possible to assemble these
15 men and two women together, there would be nothing but positive
comments made on her impact on the school. I also know
each of us would speak to her special willingness to help mentor
newcomers to the school – whether it be a new teacher or a new
principal – she has always been very generous in helping toward
seamless transitions.
Perhaps the greatest complement to a teacher is always the
appreciation of her students – here is just one of the many notes
received from past students who found that the hard work she
expected from them in high school mathematics class paved the
way for dividends at the university level.
‘Only a short while ago, I hated math with a passion. I could see
no pleasure in taking the erratic world I saw around me and
describing it in terms of unbending laws. Now I find myself excited,
even joyful, when I reduce a complex mathematical situation
to a simple solution. I actually enjoy math. Whereas I hated it
earlier for its coldness, now I rejoice in it for the challenge and
sense of accomplishment it gives me. You taught me to enjoy
math for what I receive from it, not the numbers and letters that
I put into it.’
I know that this very special woman, who works so hard for the
best interests of her students, always shuns the spotlight herself. I
haven’t asked her permission to write about her as I know she
would have denied me this opportunity – but once in a while, the
head of the school doesn’t have to ask for permission!
And so it will continue – whether Wilma Anderson is physically
present here at ISS on a daily basis or not, her positive
imprint is so strongly lodged here that we will continue to draw
on all the contributions she has invested since August, 1973 – a
VERY lucky month in the history of the school!
Thank you, Ms. Anderson, from all of us – past, the present,
and future – for all you have contributed to this school. We are
forever in your debt.
Dr Linda M Duevel is Director of
The International School of Stavanger.
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