New Albany Primary School

I’m in my 2nd year as Co-VP of Hospitality, and I love supporting the Primary teachers and staff with food and treats year-round! As a former high school teacher, I know the value of both parental and PTO support. Those pick-me-ups can turn around a challenging day, and remind them that we appreciate all their hard work. Each year my husband and I have become more grateful to send our children to the NAPLS school district due to the incredible education, teachers, and support our children receive daily. Anything I can do to boost morale or make one person feel appreciated is worth the time I put in to make an event happen!  I love seeing teachers almost run to the Lounge when we set up snacks, coffee or ESPECIALLY Crumbl cookies ha! I’ve really enjoyed partnering with so many NA businesses, restaurants and families who have donated to make these meaningful events happen! Thanks to your generosity, we have been able to provide monthly treat-a-teacher events to the 140 Primary staff.  I also love seeing teachers and staff wearing their Eagle hoodies, which corporate sponsorships have graciously afforded.  I also have enjoyed building more friendships with other parents in the PTO.

What are you most excited about for this upcoming school year?

I’ve been most excited to get back to fun PTO Programming events and school performances with my kids. My oldest missed out during the COVID years so we now cherish any opportunity to get back to a school or PTO event (Carnival was incredible this month for my 1^st grader!), meet their classmates and families, see their teachers, and see the kids having fun. The Pizza Bingo night and I’m Possible Celebration were a blast (what amazing turnouts!). I also have enjoyed having lunch with my 1^st and 3^rd grader in the lunchroom. As a Head Room Parent, I cherish the memories we’ve made this year during classroom parties and activities with the teacher. The kids literally light up when a parent enters the room! It’s been great getting to know my children’s classmates so I know who they are talking about when they come home from school…

How have you seen the PTO make an impact in our community?

Over the past several years I’ve seen the Primary PTO make a tremendous impact in our community. The fact that the PTO funds teacher grants and facilitates a night for them to “shop” at Lakeshore Learning is incredible... (I never had that as a teacher!) The Fundraising Team has worked hard at efforts including the Readathon, Flower sales, and I’m Possible Challenge, which allows the PTO to fund scholarships for kids to attend summer camp, replace playground equipment for recess, and recently provide wellness equipment for Coach Harney and Coach Todd’s Wellness classes.….I love that we can bridge the gap to provide resources, funding and enrichment to the school staff, building and students. The Programming team facilitated an incredible food drive for the NA Food Pantry (the classrooms got pretty competitive!). And through Hospitality team efforts, we have also had the honor of continuing years-long tradition of appreciating our bus drivers who transport our precious cargo to and from school and our first responders (Plain Township Fire Department, New Albany Police Department, and our School Resource Officers) who work hard to keep our school and students safe.

What’s something about yourself and/or your family that you’d like to share?

My husband Andrew and I have a 1^st and 3^rd grader at Primary this year and a preschooler who will head to the ELC for Kindergarten in the fall. Since my husband teaches at OSU, we love visiting Daddy on campus when possible, meeting students, and attending any Buckeye events! On his school breaks we love traveling to see our family in Cleveland, Miami, Florida, DC, Georgia, and Mississippi whenever possible... Since most of our family is out of state, we are grateful for great friends, Mom’s groups, and our church community in Columbus to live life with. We can’t wait for spring and summer to enjoy sports and the outdoors!

Dawn Jordan, Co-VP of Hospitality