Click here to subscribe today or Login.
By KIMBERLY DAVIS kdavis@leader.net
< By KIMBERLY DAVIS
Thursday, March 20, 2003 Page: 10A
Meghan Torbik didn’t always know what she wanted to do with her life. It
wasn’t until this year, when the Wyoming Area senior tackled her graduation
project, that she found her heart’s desire – teaching.
Torbik taught after-school art classes to elementary school students at St.
John the Baptist School, Pittston, as part of her project.
Her mother witnessed the excitement. “I remember her coming through that
door the very first day and saying `I love this! This is absolutely what I
want to do!'”
Torbik, 18, taught two, one-hour art classes a week for eight weeks at the
school. Because there is no regular art teacher at St. John the Baptist, many
students signed up for the experience – many more than the classes could
accommodate.
Sheila Murtha, a teacher at St. John, was Torbik’s mentor for her
graduation project and sat in on the art classes. Materials for the classes
were supplied by Torbik.
Twenty-seven students in fifth through seventh grades were chosen to
participate. Torbik taught 13 students on Tuesdays and 14 on Thursdays, but
it’s the students who didn’t get the opportunity that she feels bad about.
“I’d like to do it again. It would have to be during the summer,” said
Torbik, who is busy with pre-graduation activities and the track-and-field
team.
Torbik, the daughter of Richard and Mariellen Torbik of West Wyoming,
credits her father, a former Meyers standout, for her track ability. He is
known to put on the running shoes on a regular basis.
Meghan Torbik has been offered a four-year athletic scholarship to Hartford
University in Connecticut, with an opportunity to be on the track team and
study elementary education and art.
“Their art school is really good,” Torbik said.
Ten years of art lessons at Sue Hand’s Imagery, Dallas, helped Torbik’s
artistic talent to blossom. She won a second-place award for a still life of
apples at the annual Rosetti Art Show at College Misericordia a few years ago.
Mariellen Torbik displays the best of her daughter’s works on the walls of
their home.
Next month, Torbik will give an oral presentation and written report, which
will include her lesson plans, at her school to finalize her senior project.
To wrap up the program portion of the project, Torbik held an art exhibit
featuring the works of her students, and a few of her own, in the cafeteria at
Wyoming Area High School on Saturday. She presented ribbons to the students,
including great-effort awards, so that each one would be recognized. She
created certificates of participation for all the young artists.
The outpouring of thanks from the students and their parents was the real
reward for the Torbik. Some parents have even requested private lessons for
their children.
“It makes you feel good to know that people appreciate it,” she said. “I
wish I could do more.”