Remember your Home Ec teacher?

Was it Eliza Jane Reese, Bernadette Rodgers Marzen, or Maureen Kunz, who taught in Jim Thorpe? Or maybe it was Marian L. Miller Rumfield, Vilma D. Scholl, or Lois Dahlberg Nunnermacker, who taught in Lehighton.Perhaps it was Ethel Jensen, Carol Kegerris or Linda S. Brown, in Palmerton. Or Ella Evans, Georgianna Crook or Karan A. Lentz Heffelfinger, who taught in Panther Valley schools?Or maybe it was Anne Marie Spaide Potzner, Kimberly Beishline or Bobbi Ann Kufro in Weatherly.Brief biographies of all of these teachers and many others who taught Home Economics/ Family and Consumer Sciences in Carbon County schools are included in A Legacy Shared, a book produced by the Western Pocono Association of Family and Consumer Sciences.The group gathered recently at the Mahoning Valley Country Club for a book signing. Copies of the hardcover book, along with a CD, The Life and Legacy of Ellen Swallow Richards, were donated to each senior high school library, including the Carbon Career and Technical Institute, as well as the five public libraries in Carbon County. Copies are also available by contacting Sandra Kokinda at (570) 386-5970.Among those who attended was Mary Christine Meier, Reading, who taught Home Economics in Lehighton schools in the 1970s and 1980s.The biggest change she saw, Meier said, was when boys began to take the courses, which had traditionally been a girls-only class."They loved it, with a few exceptions," she said with a smile.The book project was spearheaded by Kokinda, a retired Lehighton Home Economics/Family and Consumer Sciences teacher."Way back in 1999, when I was still teaching, I had this idea that we have to preserve our history," said Kokinda, who retired in 2002.The Western Pocono Association of Family and Consumer Sciences started in 1989. In July 2004, Kokinda sent a memo to members who had been retired, along with a small notebook, and asked them to "just jot down some ideas" in anticipation of crafting a written history of the role of Home Economics/Family and Consumer Sciences in Carbon County schools.She asked the teachers to recall their fondest moments and aspects of their "life's journey as educators.""It was around 2006 when we took on the task" of pulling together something, she said. "We weren't sure at that point what it was going to turn out as, but we thought, let's just see what we can do."What they did is comprehensive and thorough.The book begins with a bit about Ellen Swallow Richards, who was the driving force behind Home Economics classes.By all accounts, Richards was ahead of her time. Born in Massachusetts in 1842, she won the distinction of being one of the first women admitted to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1870, albeit as a "special student" in order to avoid complaints from the male student body. There, she studied the sciences, became the first female graduate in 1873, and became the school's first female professor.She authored The Chemistry of Cooking and Cleaning in 1882 and Food Materials and Their Adulteration in 1885. She established a program in Boston's public schools that allowed girls to further their scientific educations.Richards, a chemist, sanitation engineer and home economist, was a leader in establishing a scientific basis for home economics. In 1909, she founded the American Home Economics Association. The group was successful in establishing Home Economics courses in schools. Aimed to preparing girls for family life, the courses included sewing, "keeping accounts", cleaning, making sure meals were nutritious and wholesome.Over the decades, Home Economics courses evolved in keeping with the needs of the times. In 1994, those changes prompted the AHEA to change the name of the courses to Family and Consumer Sciences."An AHEA task forces looked at the concerns of the stereotyping of Home Economics. So many people and students looked at it as more of a 'stitching and stewing' type of program. But they realized that times have changed," Kokinda said."We started off as very technical, and then changed according to the needs of society," Kokinda said. "And things have changed tremendously."She cited technological advances. "Back in 1993, when our name changed, that was about when the World Wide Web came about," she said. The explosion of the Internet has "really changed the family," Kokinda said."With the name change came the refocusing of family and consumer sciences, and what we really needed to look at."Kokinda cited the four standards adopted by the state as needing to be included in Family and Consumer sciences programs. They are finances, child development/parenting, nutrition/wellness and career/work."In today's society, we're looking at personal financial management of the family as a really crucial part of a student's education."Child development and parenting forms another important component."So much in that area has changed," Kokinda said. She spoke of the need for high-quality infant and child care as both parents began to work outside the home, and the importance of understanding the needs of infants, children and teenagers.Nutrition and wellness also feature large in the program."We read so much today about the importance of nutrition, and the need to balance the intake of food with exercise, and providing nutritious meals for families on the budget and the time that's available," Kokinda said.Career and work: how do we manage working families with what needs to be done within the home as well as what needs to be done outside the home. So really today, it's crucial that we focus with our students in the schools on those four standards."The curriculums should reflect these issues, she said.Kokinda pointed out that sewing - remember those awkwardly-made aprons and place mats? - is no longer included.