Welcome to Cohort My Cohort!

On a warm night in September a group of people came together to form the Mineola Cohort. I sat looking at each face wondering what everyone was thinking??? Some people knew each other in the group so you already began to see who was friends with who. Dr. Thornburg, who brought the Cohort together, asked if we would go around the room and introduce ourselves. Of course, we had to tell our name, what school we were from and why we were there. And so it began...Hi my name is Jennifer Maichen I am from Mineola MS and I am a Resource room teacher, Hi I am Joe Owens and I am from Mineola MS and I am a Music teacher, Hi I am Allison Maffetone and I work in Willis Ave. in Mineola and I am a Special Ed Kinndergarten teacher, Hi I am Maura Lewinger and I work at UCP as a Speech and Language teacher, Hi I am Lisa Occione sister of Allison and I work in Fork Lane in Hicksville and I am First grade Special Ed teacher, I am Nancy Ruisi, I also teach at Fork Lane in Hicksville and I teach 4th grade inclusion, Hi I am Jessica Iafrate and I work with Nancy and Lisa also, I am a Fourth grade teacher. Hi I am, John Squillace I work in Elmont High School as a math teacher, Hi I am Dayna Contento and I work in Elmont HS as well andI am an English teacher, Hi I am James Hegmann and I work in Elmont HS teaching Social Studies and coach for Mineola Boys Basketball team. Hi I am Michael Graham and I work in Elmont HS as the attendance dean, Hi am Diane Turner and I am aBusiness teacher in Carey HS. Hi I am Mary Spirit and I work in Sachem HS as a Family and Consumer Science teacher, Hi I am Julie and I work in NYC as a Fourth grade teacher....Oh no it's my turn... Hi I am Sharon Macken and I work for Nassau BOCES as a Student Support Specialist for e-Schooldata...ok are those crickets I hear??? I feel like everyone is staring at me like an alien visiting from outer space, what everyone doesn't know is that I hope to eventually say Hi I am Sharon Macken and I work in the Mineola School District as the Chief Information Officer. I am sure I will still get some strange looks but at least I will feel like I will belong to a School District. What I didn't know is that some of the people in this room will become some of my closest friends and in essence I will be part of something greater than any school district, I will be part of a Cohort that is made up of many personalities, come from many different backgrounds and share many different view points but we all came together for a reason and I believe it is because we were all meant to meet each other and create something great!