ghirvingpso

Great Hearts Upper school: see your email!

GHI Upper School:See your email!!

Lower School and Upper School Meet the Teacher is well underway! We're so glad to be welcoming all our families onto campus today, many after a very long time away. We do hope we will see as many of you as possible before the day is over.

Shout out for Rob Blanton, hero basketball goal assembly-er extraordinaire! He assembled the Lower School basketball goal this morning-- and he only has UPPER School students! THAT'S an amazing Great Hearted Dad! Thanks, Rob, you're awesome! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

It's been a lot fun meeting our GHI 6th Grade Families today. Stop by the PSO room at orientations for a small gift, volunteer information and an opportunity to shop at the Spirit Store. Looking forward to 7th grade orientation Thursday August 5.

Meet your PSO Board

Upper School Vice-President: Kathy Blanton

Hello! I am privileged and thankful to serve as the PSO Upper School Vice President for the 2021-2022 school year. Our family has been part of the GHI family (community) since its inception in 2015, drawn to GHI’s commitment to Truth, Beauty, and Goodness and we’ve been thrilled to watch our children grow to embrace and share these values. The PSO has been an important part of that journey and contributing to its continued growth is truly an honor.

A quick bio: My husband Rob and I are the proud parents of Elizabeth, a rising Senior, and James, who will be a 9th grader. We were very active in our prior school’s parent organization and know how important it can be to a school’s success. My husband is a native Texan and I grew up on Long Island, N.Y, moving here as a teenager. Rob and I met loading boxes at United Parcel Service while in college and will celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary in September. I’ve also worked at the same company for 30 years (GE/SYF), most recently as a financial services compliance officer and soon to move into a client development role. I am also a passionate advocate for those with mental or physical disabilities and lead my company’s People with Disabilities Family Support group. Our own little family loves to travel, especially to historic places or to the beach, read, listen to music, and watch movies. We eat dinner together every night and listening to the kids debate philosophy or discuss the Latin origin of words has been one of the more delightful results of the Greats Hearts experience!

The GHI PSO offers so many opportunities to help grow and support our amazing school community. I look forward to meeting you and working together to make it a great year.

Meet your PSO Board

Michelle Weissenstein, Middle School VP

I am so excited to serve on the Great Hearts PSO as the Middle School VP this year! My son, Luke, will be going into 6th grade and we are looking forward to entering Middle School and becoming part of the Upper School family. We have been part of Great Hearts since he was in 2nd grade (we tried to get in from the start but he finally got his lucky lottery spot for 2nd grade) and we are so grateful to be here!

My husband, Stefan, and I met at Texas A&M. Soon after we graduated, we got married and then went onto grad school there together. He got his Masters in Architecture and I got my Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology. After grad school we moved to DFW for my husband’s job and around that same time Luke was born. Ever since, I have been keeping busy being a stay-at-home mom and being active at our church, guiding 3-6-year-old children in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, volunteering at the school, and helping with whatever activity my son is currently involved in. In past years, I have especially loved volunteering weekly in the Lower School lunchroom and being able to meet many of the students. They are all so kind and it is such a joy to get to know them, even if it’s just for a few seconds as they get their meal.

I love this school so much! We have had such a wonderful experience these past four years in the Lower School and expect many more great years ahead as we move into the Upper School. I am so thankful for the wonderful teachers, staff, students, families, culture, and curriculum. I am reminded daily of what a gift it is to be part of Great Hearts Irving! I am looking forward to helping the PSO support our teachers and families and being part of bringing our community closer together. I look forward to meeting many of you, growing in friendship, and supporting Great Hearts together.

Meet your PSO board:
Lucia Serdan-Torre, Secretary

I am so excited to serve as PSO Secretary this year!

I have 4 energetic children, two of them are Great-Hearted scholars: Patricio (11th grade) and Amaya (4th grade). We have been part of Great Hearts since the beginning and we love the community.

A little bit of myself:

Me and my husband, Igor, married in 2002 and moved to Boston for Igor's MBA - I feel like I graduated too. After that, we moved back to Mexico City, where we spent 2 and a half years. We then moved to Chicago, then Dallas in 2010. I can tell you we are just so happy in Dallas because it is a great place to raise our family.

If you ever go to our home, our doors are always open and sounds like we are having a party, even though it might be only the 6 of us doing karaoke, dancing, reading or playing poker.

Back in Mexico, I owned a preschool, where I found my vocation/passion as a teacher. In Boston, I was the coordinator and a Spanish teacher for an after school organization for private and public schools.

In Chicago, I was the Spanish teacher for Embers elementary and a Theology teacher for The Willows Academy. Here in Texas, I was the Director of a preschool until 2020.

Currently, I work part-time for a great non-profit organization.

My husband started his own company a few years ago. The main focus of his company is business development. He is also one of the parents for the house for Belisarius.

I look forward to meeting so many of you and working together for the betterment of our school. I can't wait for all the good and positive changes for this coming year.

Meet your PSO Board:

Melody Zaragoza, Lower School VP

It is such a privilege to serve on the Great Hearts PSO board as the Lower School Vice President. Beginning in the Fall of 2021-2022, I will have 3 scholars enrolled at the lower school: Ansley will be in 5th grade, Alex will be in 4th grade, and Zane will be in Kindergarten.

My husband, Joaquin, and I grew up in Slaton, Texas, and graduated from Texas Tech University, though I technically graduated from the TTU Health Sciences Center. From there, I moved to Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and earned my Doctorate in Audiology (Au.D.) from Nova Southeastern University. We got married in Galveston, TX, and moved to DFW, where I worked for the Dallas Ear Institute until my second daughter, Alex, was born. For the past 9 years, I have supported my family by staying at home and becoming the Chief Operations Officer of "Casa de Zaragoza." The majority of my time away from home is spent studying and teaching the Bible through Bible Study Fellowship as well as volunteering at Great Hearts.

I dream of the days when I once played golf, traveled to new places, and only did laundry once every 2 weeks. I see a promising future as the kids have begun to play golf and enjoy traveling, but I've given up on the laundry. Now, I have get to do relaxing things at home, such as reading, card games, and jigsaw puzzles. I get in touch with my creative side by making my own chapstick (ZBalm) and crafting my way around the house.

As parents and students are making their way back to campus, I look forward to meeting parents who are new to the school and parents who might just be new to me. If our paths ever cross, please say hello and introduce yourself. I look forward to meeting so many of you. I have seen this school grow and transform into a thriving system of the people who pour into it: administrators, faculty, staff, parents, and students. I love getting creative with new ideas, thinking outside the box, and problem solving. Maybe it's the scientist in me. Working together for the betterment of our school is such an honor, and I hope to join forces with many of you as we work toward that limitless end.

Meet your PSO Board

Terra McGhee, Treasurer

I am so excited to serve as PSO Treasurer this year! I have two great-hearted scholars: Owen (5th grade) and Kaia (3rd grade). Both have been learning the ways of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness since they started Kindergarten at GHI. My youngest is excited to join the Great Hearts family but will have to wait until 2022 for her debut.

When Owen was accepted into GHI in 2016 it literally changed our lives. We gave up our trendy neighborhood in Bishop Arts to move to the ‘burbs here in Irving. And every day my kiddos come home from school proselytizing about the life cycle of a butterfly, their favorite Greek goddess, or how many ways you can pronounce “ough” I thank goodness that we made that move. We are beyond all gratitude to witness their superior education of mind, body, and conscience.

When I’m not balancing the books for our PSO or attempting (and failing) to keep my raucous house in order, you can find me waxing poetic about debit and credits at UT Arlington, where I teach accounting to both exuberant and reluctant scholars. In my sparse spare time I also pretend to train our chihuahua, Ginger, and our black lab, Booda, to mind their manners.

I look forward to the wonderful ways the PSO can support our teachers and families this year. I am forever grateful to the community we have joined at GH and the inspiring work of the faculty and staff I witness every day.

Throughout the summer, various posts will introduce PSO Board Members and Committee Chairs to our community. We're kicking this off with the PSO President (gulp).

Meet your PSO BOARD

President: Amanda Nicholls.

I am honored and humbled to serve as the PSO President for the 2021-2022 school year. I have two students at GHI: my daughter Laura will be a 5th Grader in the Lower School, and my son Micah is a 10th grader at the Upper School, which means I get to juggle two car lines! We’ve been a part of the GHI community since the first day of school in 2015.

On a personal note, I grew up in Amarillo, Texas, and moved to the DFW area to attend the University of Dallas. After graduation, I was an elementary teacher and administrator, a teacher trainer in various ISDs and organizations, and most recently, a preschool music teacher for many years. I have now chosen to focus full-time on volunteer opportunities at GHI (and I hope you will join me!).

My husband Mark is the CFO of Sharing Services Global Corp. Our family loves to cheer on Micah at rugby games, applaud Laura at piano and dance recitals, support Micah’s Eagle Scout project through Troop 508, worship together at Christ Church Irving, and travel to our 5th generation family cabin in the mountains of Northern New Mexico.

Great Hearts Irving has a very special place in my heart, as I have been a first-row spectator to the incredible journey it has taken through the years. The pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness isn’t limited to the walls of the classrooms, and I have seen it in this amazing community in SO MANY WAYS. I’m truly excited to see how goodness will manifest itself this year through our PSO, faculty, students, and community.

Let me know if you want more information about our Parent Service Organization, and I'll see you at the school(s), soon!