Elaine Fried Kamienny

I am so glad to be able to reconnect with so many classmates. I hope I can make the reunion. Just looking at the class list brought back so many memories.

Following graduation I attended Wayne State University and received my B.S. in Education, and taught in the Detroit Public Schools for a year, then transferred to the Ferndale School system where I taught for 4th and 5th grades for almost seven years.

I took a maternity leave to raise my family, and when I tried to return found that there was a glut of teachers on the market. Unable to find employment I returned to Wayne State where I took graduate courses in child psychology. I transferred over to Oakland University where I furthered my work in education, receiving my M.A.T. in Reading.

Still unable to to find a teaching position, I went back to W.S.U. and pursued an Ed.D. (abd) in Curriculum Development and Gifted Education.

Realizing the schools now considered me too expensive to hire , I took a wonderful position across the border in Windsor, ONT as Assistant Director of the Windsor Jewish Community Center and Campaign Director of the Women's Division. I worked there for five years.

When Canada wouldn't renew my work permit (only 5 years allowed) i moved to Atlanta, where I first worked for the Atlanta Jewish Federation, and then chose to return to my education roots by opening and directing a Children's Learning Center, home to infants (6 weeks through Kindergarten). Working with the teachers and watching the children's development was delightful.

Then my oldest daughter, who had recently married, and was working as a Senior Accountant for a Venture Capital company asked me to move to Boston where she was living. What could I say? Her sister is now living in Arizona where she is an Essentials Skills Instructor at Maricopa Community College.

I have been in Boston for over 15 years now.
I have been the director of a day care center, and the Executive Director of a Preschool in Beacon Hill. I have also been active in the Humanistic Jewish community of Boston, and principal of 2 Sunday Schools. I officiate at humanistic life cycle events - weddings, funerals and memorial services.

Currently I am working at becoming an entrepreneur, having formed the company familiesathomeandplay.com, which eventually will offer resources for families for every member of the family, from the smallest infant through the most senior members of the family - a one site resource center. Will I ever get it off the ground? Only time will tell, but it has truly been a new learning experience as I emerge in web development -- oh my burning eyes!

I have two fabulous granddaughters who are hysterical and keep me laughing (ages 3 and 7).

I didn't test well (understatement) so teachers convinced my parents to place me in the business curriculum, rather than college prep. I was the best typist in my class and excelled at shorthand, but was pretty bored with the remainder of my classes. I remember creating a "fuss" with my school counselor demanding that I be placed in college prep in my senior year. Senior year was really brutal as I had missed so much in the last three years, but I hung in, surprising everyone.

In my senior year I joined the Teachers Club, knowing that I indeed would someday be a teacher. I had learned that there was more to success than the score of a test.