Village Living
www.VillageLivingOnline.com
| August 2011 |
neighborly news & entertainment for Mountain Brook
Missie Crawford -pg 7
MBHS Dorians
Volume 2 | Issue 5 | August 2011
- pg 10
Football team not satisfied with semifinals By WILL HIGHTOWER The 2011 high school football season is upon us. After a deep playoff run last year, the Mountain Brook Varsity Football Team is preparing to build on their success. The Spartans have to rebuild on defense but have nine returning starters on the other side of the ball. “It’s hard to make it to where we got last year,” said Head Coach Chris Yeager, who has been with the program for 13 years. “This year’s team doesn’t need to be satisfied with that. They need to want to get to another level. Human nature is to gravitate to mediocrity, so these guys need to avoid that.” An offense that averaged 28 points a game in 2010 will return almost everyone, including senior quarterback Edward Aldag, but will miss last year’s biggest playmaker, wide receiver John McCrary, who accounted for 61 catches for 1,337 yards and 16 touchdowns. Yeager said junior Patrick Sullivan and senior Coates Doss, along with a host of other wide receivers, are trying to fill the void. “Coates had a really good summer,” Yaeger said. “But at Mountain Brook, we have what I call a proverbial fence. A lot of guys are on it every year, and we get some surprises and some disappointments.
August Features Editor’s Note City Council Back to School Fashion Village Sports Kari Kampakis Tribble Reese on CMT PTO Presidents School House Business Spotlight Restaurant Showcase Calendar of Events Around the Villages
4 5 8 10 13 15 16 17 20 21 22 23
Like us
Pre-Sort Standard U.S. Postage PAID Birmingham, AL Permit #656
www.VillageLivingOnline.com
Pleasant Grove restoration efforts include brick sale and more By MADOLINE MARKHAM
Senior Edward Aldag returns at quarterback for the Spartans, who will try to improve on a deep playoff run in 2010. Photo courtesy of Image Arts.
John was one of those guys last year that came out of nowhere. So any of the wide receivers could step up.” If Aldag can be the same facilitator he was last year, the Spartans will have a good shot at repeating their semifinal spot in the
playoffs. “He will have a bull’s eye on his chest,” Yeager said about Aldag. “Teams will be targeting him. So for him, the question is: how do you handle pressure? How does he improve on last year?”
See FOOTBALL | page 10
On July 14, representatives from the city of Mountain Brook met with Pleasant Grove Mayor Jerry Brasseale and other representatives from Pleasant Grove to determine how the cities can unite to aid Pleasant Grove in long-term restoration efforts in the wake of the April 27 tornado. “Pleasant Grove was very receptive,” Mayor Terry Oden said. “Our main mission was to see what they needed and not just do something to do something.” For now, the city will be raising money to help with Pleasant Grove’s long-term needs. “I hope that when we start the process that the people in Mountain Brook will be generous,” Oden said. Donate at Western For the months of October and February, Western Supermarkets in Mountain Brook will be accepting donations for Pleasant Grove restoration
See PLEASANT GROVE | page 14
The infamous Mrs. Plosser By RICK WATSON When we look back on our high school years, we recall certain teachers—not the ones who let us slide, but the tough teachers who somehow reached inside us and brought out an ability or talent we didn’t know we had. For many at Mountain Brook High School, that teacher is Diana Plosser. Plosser has dedicated 21 years there doing what she loves—teaching advanced thirdyear, advanced fourth-year and advanced placement Latin. “Mrs. Plosser is an incredible teacher,” said former student Ann Watford. “She had high expectations for each of us and made us feel that we could live up to those expectations.” For Plosser, teaching is not a job but a calling. “If I work hard, it encourages my students to work hard. There’s nothing worse than a teacher who expects the students to do all the work.” Every day Plosser spends three to five hours outside class daily grading papers and preparing for the next sessions. In the advanced placement courses, she assigns some 20 lines of Latin each night for students to translate. Afterward, she goes over every word on every paper to verify that the student understands the language and the concepts involved.
Mountain Brook High School teacher Diana Plosser. Photo by Rick Watson.
Each individual receives immediate feedback on troublesome areas, and if the larger group trends toward a common problem, she covers those topics the next day at the beginning of class. “I think it’s Mrs. Plosser’s focus on the individual student that sets her apart and helps students to keep up with the pace she sets,” Watford said. Although Latin and other foreign languages are considered electives in high school, most colleges require two years
Dysport Days in August!
of language study. Schools with more competitive admission require three years. Many students gravitate toward modern languages like Spanish or French, but the interesting thing about Latin, according to Plosser, is that through study of it students learn not only the language but events that happened in an ancient world and how they apply to life today. “These are universal truths and the wisdom of the ages,” she said. “Studying languages, in general, helps students learn to think on a higher level than they would otherwise.” Her initial decision to go into teaching was an easy one. “I love learning, and I love school,” she said. Even when she took off work a few years to raise her own children, she spent a great deal of time volunteering in educational settings: programs for the Junior League, workshops for United Way training and helping develop the walking tour for a local historical society. For Plosser, teaching is a reward made even more satisfying by seeing students succeed after they leave her classroom. She feels that the ongoing relationship with past students is one of the most satisfying things about her profession. “I’m always their teacher, and they’re always my student,” she
Whe
See TEACHER | page 8
Save up to $100
on your next frown line treatment! call us today
Jenny O. Sobera, MD Shelley Winzeler, PA-C
2901 Cahaba Road • 877-9773 • www.villagedermatology.net