Renee Park Mooney EDP 610 Introduction

Greetings to Dr. Usher and fellow students:

My name is Renee Park Mooney, and I go by Renee or Mooney by some. I was born and raised in Iowa, then lived in Wisconsin before moving to Lexington 28 years ago. I am a mother of two adult children. My first born son, Kelan, was still born in 1984, George Orwell was right, it was a very bad year. Christopher is 27 years old and in his first year as an assistant professor, teaching mathematics at Viterbo University in La Crosse, WI. My daughter, Shannon, is 24 years old and married almost one year to Juan. She is a Spanish medical interpreter in the ED at UK Chandler Hospital. She is closing on her first house this month. I have a grand-dog, Rocko, or Rockito, in Spanish, whom I love, and to whom I am allergic. I have been petrified of dogs my entire life, until I met Rocko. Shannon has raised him to be a loving and well-behaved creature.  Patrick, my husband, is the Associate Chair in the Sociology department at UK. We just celebrated 35 years of marriage on August 19.

I earned my BA in Elementary Education from the University of Northern Iowa in 1978 and my MA in Elementary Education, from UK, in 1995. I am currently working on my Rank 1 teaching certification in STEM education. I have completed my first 15 hours and have 15 more to go. My goal is to be finished the summer of 2016. I take only one class each semester. I have been teaching for 25 years, 7 years in Wisconsin at two, small Catholic schools, and 3 years at Arlington Elementary in Lexington, KY. I currently teach in the Center for Behavioral Health at UK-Good Samaritan Hospital, and am in my 16^th year. I work with adolescents admitted to our acute, inpatient, and psychiatric unit. The length of stay can be one day to two months. I teach all subjects and ages 12-18. I work as a liaison between the adolescent, the treatment team, the family and the school. I am very interested in developing a strong system of support for each of our patients/students, and instilling in each individual such character strengths as, grit, resiliency, courage, curiosity, work ethic, social and intellectual intelligence, and zest. I try to incorporate the most current technology, while emphasizing teaching STEM subjects to my students.

I enjoy cooking, but not doing dishes, reading, movies, gritty foreign crime dramas, especially Swedish series. I enjoyed walks, but have abandoned them since I began graduate school, 2 years ago. I sing second alto in a women’s choir at my church, which I have done for around 15 years. I was a “singer in a rock and roll band” in high school and college. I am already "grown up", but hope to be a grandmother one day? I love to travel, but hate to fly. We have lived in England, Italy and Poland (during my husband's sabbatical) and spent a month in Australia. This summer, my 85 year old mother and I took a three week road trip to Portland and Seattle, and visited many family members and friends along the way. It was a memorable trip and a great deal of fun. After driving the 6000 miles, myself, I was exhausted. We hope to travel to St. Louis, MO to see my mom's dearest school mate, and Fort Worth, TX next summer to visit my brother Ross. I have never been to Texas, but have been to every surrounding state. Somehow, I missed it.

"All is well" (Three Idiots, 2009),

Renee Mooney