TEACHER'S CORNER: OAK RIDGE TEACHER STRIVES TO HELP PUPILS UNDERSTAND

Carole Del Vecchio, who teaches math and introduction to computer programming to grades 8-12 at Oak Ridge High School, cares that her students get all they can from her courses.

"I guess the most gratifying thing about my job is when a student is finally able to say, `I get it,'" she said.

"Of course, I'm always delighted when graduates come back and tell me that their college classes are easy because of the classes they took in high school."

Del Vecchio graduated from Mehlville High School in St. Louis in 1969.

"I've always loved mathematics, and at the time I graduated from high school there were not as many career options open to women in mathematics as there are today," she said. "I just always assumed that I would be a teacher."

Del Vecchio graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a bachelor of science degree in secondary education in 1973. She earned a master's in teaching with an emphasis in mathematics in 1976.

She has been married to Stephen Del Vecchio, a certified practical accountant with Hillin and Clark, PC, for 20 years. They have two daughters: Beth, a freshman at Notre Dame High School, and Kari, who is in sixth grade at St. Vincent de Paul Grade School.

"My classes are pretty ordinary," Del Vecchio said. "Since I am the only math teacher in the high school, I get to know my students pretty well.

"I encourage them to work with each other on everyday lessons, so my classroom is sometimes a bit noisier than others."

In her 20 years' teaching experience, Del Vecchio said that one of her most memorable experiences was being called "mom" by an eighth-grade student. "I was only 20 years old at the time," she said.

"Another time at Oak Ridge, I had asked my class if anyone knew what an ellipse was," she recalled. "I had a student ask, `Isn't that when the moon is between the sun and the Earth?'

In her spare time, Del Vecchio serves as adviser to Oak Ridge junior high and high school pep clubs, the junior class sponsor, assistant leader for Cape Girardeau Girl Scout Troop 237, Newsletter Editor for Southeast Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics, a committee member working with the Center for Advanced Placement in Science and Mathematics, and a math tutor.