Seven new teachers join Gulf faculty
April Britt, Mindy Catton, Brian Feehan, Debora Foote
Susan McNulty, Mimi Mendonca, Terry Stoermer Seven new teachers joined the faculty of Gulf High School at the start of the 2002-2003 school year. They are as follows:
APRIL BRITT will be teaching in the ESE department. She is already familiar to many students, as she was the cheerleading sponsor at Gulf for two years. Mrs. Britt was born in Cincinnati and moved to Florida at age 19. She has attended the University of Cincinnati and St. Petersburg College. She says she likes to read, especially mysteries. She is the founder of the Pasco Elite All-Stars, which is made up of the top cheerleaders at the high schools in Pasco county, who compete against the top cheerleaders from other counties. Her father-in-law, Mike Britt, was the President of the Pasco Athletic League. He died in 1993 at age 48 and the football field behind the old Gulf High School on the Boulevard is now named both for him and James St. Clair, a Gulf teacher in the 1920s.
MINDY CATTON joins the math department, replacing Mr. Lyons, who retired at the end of the 2001-2002 school year. She will be teaching Geometry and Algebra I-B. Miss Catton is originally from Peoria, Illinois, and graduated from Illinois State University. Before coming to Gulf, she taught seventh grade math and Pre-algebra for two years at Aiea Intermediate School in Aiea, Hawaii, and Algebra I and Algebra II for one year at Kau High School in Pahala, Hawaii.
BRIAN FEEHAN will be teaching World History. He replaces Ms. Lefebvre, who retired at the end of the 2001-2002 school year. Mr. Feehan grew up in a military family, so he lived in numerous places, including California, Washington, Virginia, Illinois, and he lived three years in France. He was born in Tokyo. He graduated from Crystal River High School in Florida. He has a B. A. degree in Political Science and an M. A. degree in Education, both from USF. Before coming to Gulf he was an adjunct professor in American Government at St. Petersburg College. He also teaches at PHCC.
DEBORA FOOTE will be teaching four sections of ninth-grade English, one of which is an honors class, and one section of twelfth-grade English Honors. This is Mrs. Foote's first year as a teacher. She interned last year at Gulf under Dr. Wildey and Ms. Winslow. She is originally from Beacon, New York, but has lived in Florida for nineteen years. She formerly was a legal assistant. She is married and has three children and two grandchildren. She attended St. Leo University.
SUSAN McNULTY will be a Media Specialist at Gulf. She replaces Mrs. Vanek, who resigned for health reasons. Mrs. McNulty earned a bachelor's degree from FSU and a master's degree in Library and Information Science at USF. She taught for three years at Dixie Hollins High School in St. Petersburg and seven years at Hopkins Middle School in St. Petersburg. More recently, she has been an adjunct reference librarian at St. Petersburg College. She has been married for eleven years and has two daughters.
MIMI MENDONCA will be teaching in the ESE department. She is well-known at Gulf, as she has been President of the Athletic Boosters Club for two and one-half years. She has also been a member of the School Advisory Council. Mrs. Mendonca is originally from Pittsburgh, but she has lived in Florida for twenty years. She attended Western Pennsylvania School of Nursing and earned a bachelor's degree from St. Joseph's College in Windom, Maine. She has recently taught adults in the area of nursing and has tutored in the ESE department at Gulf for five years. She has three children, two of whom currently attend Gulf and one of whom is a Gulf alumna now in college.
TERRY STOERMER will be in charge of the In School Suspension program this year. Last year he taught Driver Education at Gulf during the second semester, replacing Mr. DeWitt during his illness. Mr. Stoermer was born in Evansville, Indiana, and has an M. S. and a B. S. degree, both in Physical Education from Indiana University. He retired from the military, having served for 22 years in the Army, where he achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Before he entered the military, he taught for one year at William Henry Harrison High School in Bloomington, Indiana. After he left the service, he substitute taught in Pasco County for about three years. He is married and has two children, and lives in Trinity.
