Michael Peterson:
CLASS OF 1964
Ft. Dodge High SchoolClass of 1964
Ft. dodge, IA
Manson High SchoolClass of 1975
Manson, IA
St. Edmond High SchoolClass of 1965
Ft. dodge, IA
Oelwein High SchoolClass of 1964
Oelwein, IA
Iowa Central Community CollegeClass of 1964
Ft. dodge, IA
Michael's Story
Life
We live in Phoenix, AZ.now. We've been here in this house about 17 years. Nita, my wife and a Ft. Dodge grad, was a case worker/RN for United Health here in PX and has been retired since 2010. She is either on the computer or phone all day. We had been in the same homeroom for three years in high school and we never dated until out last semester of school. I retired in 2006 from 34 years in education of which the last 27 were in administration. I've been everything from an Art Teacher, 6th Grade teacher, Elem. Principal, Asst. Junior High Principal, K-12 Principal, Asst. Supt., Superintendent, and part-time college prof teacher. Dick Leet in Oelwein, IA and Bob Halm in Ft. Dodge had a great deal to do with me going into Art Education. I taught Art for 6 years in Ft. Dodge at two schools each week and then taught 6th for one year in Badger, IA, which is part of the Ft. Dodge School District. My high school art teacher, Bob Halm, was also my next door neighbor while I was in high school and community college in Ft. D. I got my BA from Univ. of Northern Iowa '69 and my MA in Educ. Admin. and Elem. Educ. from Iowa State '75. We left Iowa in '76 and moved to Moorcroft, Wyoming where I was the Elem. Principal for 3 years. Then we moved to Estes Park, CO where is was the Elem. Principal for two years and we lost money every year we were there. Nita was out of school for ten years by that time and she was making less than she did when she started nursing. I went with Beech Aircraft in Boulder for a year as the Supervisor of Employee Relations and recruited cryogenic engineers for the space shuttle program. They built glorified thermos bottles there that held the liquid oxygen and hydrogen that powered the fuel cells and provided the atmosphere for the crew cabin of the shuttle. Beech has been doing this every since the Mercury and Gemini flights. I left to go back to sanity and twice my pay as a K-12 Principal in Baggs, Wyoming. We were there for 3 years. It was terribly small. We moved to Gillette, WY, where I was the Assoc. Principal of a 850 Junior High for two years then went to being an Elem Principal at two sc...Expand for more
hools for the next 4 years in town. One of the schools for 45 miles away from two just 5 miles from the Montana border. It had 32 kids in 9 grades! I had started an Ed.S program at the Univ. of Wyoming in 1977. We went to summer school as a family and always had a good time. I finished my Ed.S in 1986 and went straight on for the Ed.D. in Educational Admn with an emphasis in Supervision. Graduated in 11, 1988. I did my dissertation on a replication of a study of Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement (TESA). That moved me into the central office positions. I became the Asst. Supt. in South Sioux City, Nebraska for six years where I was in charge of Instruction, Curriculum, Certified Personnel, Staff Development and supervised and wrote the grants in my spare time! During that time we were close to our parents in Ft. Dodge and saw them every 4-6 weeks. During that time our daughters, Cherise and Paige, had moved to Arizona and we didn't see them moving back to cold country so we moved to AZ. where I was the Supt./Principal of a K-8 in Pine, AZ. Two years of that was enough. We moved to Phoenix were I was an Elem. Principal with the Washington Elem. School Dist. #6 for 6 years. Cherise got married to a nice guy here who is now a trainer with the insurance company Hagerty whick insures high end cars and everything associated with them.. Paige graduated from the Univ. of AZ. Theater Arts and went to LA for 7 years to become a star. She was a regular extra on Chicago Hope and was also on other shows. Then she spent 3 years with Sundance, Bob Redford's company. She now works here for Pulte Homes in the contract development section. I'm now looking for what I want to do when I grow up. I did sell guns for a short time in Nov. 2006 but couldn't stand to be on my feet for eight hours a day and after a couple of weeks I could hardly walk. I have returned to my roots in art doing engraving, sand blasting, drawing, painting and design. From time to time I'm deep into building models. I just finished the Santa Maria, Pinta and Nina is 1/75th scale. This is being delivered through the Mike Peterson Design Studio.
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