CLASS
NOTES
26
TOWER
|
Summer 2014
Jeanne Pocalyko-Yount ’85
was
appointeddirector of personnel for
the Tredyffrin/Easttown School
Board. She brings 18 years of public
school human resources experience
to the district.
JeffreyWetherhold ’85
is passionate
about instilling a love for physics in
his 11th and 12th grade students. One
of his original “Cityscapes” paintings
was used in the 12th edition of Paul
G. Hewitt’swell-known “Conceptual
Physics” textbook. For the past three
years,Wetherhold has exhibited his
work at the annual “Art in the Park”
event held in June atWest Park in
Allentown. Recently, he exhibited
hiswork at an “8 x 8” art fundraiser
tobenefit theAllentownAcademy
of theArts atWilliamAllenHigh
School, his almamater. In 2010, his
cartoon, “Acceleration andUniform
Circular Motion,” captured first place
in the category of Circular Motion in
the USA Science and Engineering
Festival’s Great Science Teacher
VideoContest. He has authored
numerous articles for national
science publications and has pre-
sented teacher trainingworkshops
throughout the greater Lehigh
Valley andPhiladelphia areas. He
alsodesigns physics equipment
marketed throughWard’s Science,
which provides teacher resources.
He created an interactiveDVD,
“Physics Phun,” that can be found
in classrooms, aswell as theDa
Vinci ScienceCenter inAllentown.
Wetherhold received the 2007Da
Vinci ScienceCenter ScienceHall of
FameAward and the 2002 Lehigh
Valley PBS EducationVisionary
Award. In 2005, one of his students
was selectedby theAmerican
Association of Physics Teachers to
help represent theUnited States in
the International PhysicsOlympiad.
Brenda Boyer ’86
, the librarian
at KutztownHigh School, recently
co-authored a paper that will be
included as a chapter in “Colla-
borative Models for Librarian
and Teacher Partnerships.” Entitled
“Improving Student Research Skills
throughProfessional Collaboration,”
the chapter chronicles a yearlong
process of cooperation between
teachers and the library at Kutz-
town High. Boyer is currently
working on a doctorate in instruc-
tional design.
John Chupein ’87
, a sports cine-
matographer, recently covered the
Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia,
for NBC Sports.
StevenDegler ’88
was inducted
into theHamburgAthleticHall of
Fame in Jan. 2014. At Hamburg,
Degler earned nine letters in soccer,
baseball andbasketball, andwas
Jessi Lang ’02 Lives Life in the Fast Lane
Host, writer and producer of Motor Trend TV’s “WideOpen
Throttle,”which provides aweekly roundup of national and
international automotive news and events, and “The J-Turn,”
an automotive ‘bucket list’ show,
JESSI LANG ’02
has
competed at Daytona International Speedway, raced a Porsche
996GT3 on the precarious Nürburgring track inGermany, and
driftedBentleys on ice in Finland.
“In an industry inwhich I’m sogreatly outnumberedbymale
colleagues, I’m sometimes definedbymy gender and known as
the ‘girl’ driver,” she revealed. “Butmy goal is tobe seen as a
person— and as a formidable racer. Sowhile some of themen out
on the track are puffing their chests andposturing, I’m staying
focused and learning how todrive. I keepmy eye on the prize.”
At Daytona, Langwas amember of the only all-women team
to finish the 14-hour race.While they didn’t emerge completely
unscathed (Lang sustained a hit, as did her teammate), they
finished in one piece.
Although already an established automotive andbroadcasting
authority, with certificates in radio and television announcing from
theColumbia School of Broadcasting and a gig reviewing cars for
Roadfly TV under her belt, Lang sometimes faces criticism from
automotive enthusiastswhomistakenly underestimate her.
“I have todo a lot toprovemyself,” she said. “People get hung
uponmy appearance, sometimes call me terrible names. Luckily
I’mbulletproof, and I’mdetermined todisrupt stereotypes that are
damaging and counterproductive. I want to challenge people’s
assumptions and trouble people’s categories, and throughmy
job I really get todo that. It’s awild, voyeuristic, strange space,
but I’vewon over an incredible amount of peoplewithin a very
difficult demographic and I’m tremendously proudof that.”
