ESOL Resource Teacher Maddi Okun to retire

Mrs. Okun has been at Gulf for nine years. She has been an ESOL trainer since 1992 and a consulting teacher for ESOL courses in Pinellas County. ESOL is an abbreviation for English for Speakers of Other Languages.

She says that after she retires, she plans to continue teaching ESOL classes for Pinellas County, do volunteer work for domestic violence victims, and visit her grandchildren.

Mrs. Okun is married to Arnie Okun, who taught mathematics at Gulf and was the chairman of the math department until he retired two years ago. They will celebrate their 35th anniversary on May 23. They have two daughters. One is a math teacher at Winter Park High School, and the other stays at home with her twins.

Maddi and Arnie have known each other since they were children. They grew up in the same neighborhood and were often in the same classes. Maddi said that she and Arnie even attended the same nursery school at the same time.

Maddi was born in Yonkers, New York. She graduated from Yonkers High School, and has a B. S. degree in History and Elementary Education from Stony Brook University and an M. S. degree in Elementary Education from Lehman College in the Bronx. She began her teaching career in Yonkers, where she taught elementary grades at School 28 for four years. After moving to Florida she taught ESOL at night to adults in Dunedin. She began teaching in Pasco County in 1981, teaching all grades at Gulfside Elementary School.