THOSE WHO SOAR
Arch Journey
The of the
Madeleine Seidner ’05
What higher praise for an academic institution than to inspire a student to be a teacher? For a student’s experience to be so positive and inspirational, that she be moved to pursue that path for herself speaks volumes. Such is the story of Madeleine Seidner. In Madeleine, The Pegasus School sparked a love of learning, but more broadly, a love of the educational environment as a whole. She credits the overwhelming positive attitude of the students—for learning, for intelligence, and for their school in general as a motivating force. “At Pegasus,” Madeleine says, “it is absolutely cool to be smart. Students don’t try to hide their intelligence or academic abilities.” Recognizing this is not the norm, she
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THE PEGASUS SCHOOL
Malinda Bryant
also praises how much Pegasus students love their school, and support each other’s unique and individual gifts. “Pegasus is a learning community of smart and unique people, creative teachers and learning opportunities that definitely inspired me to want to be an educator.” Madeleine graduated from Pegasus with the class of 2005 and went on to continued success at Mater Dei High School. At Mater Dei, in addition to acting as Editor-inChief of their student newspaper, Madeleine supported her community by founding the Operation Smile Club with fellow Pegasus alumna, Kendra Eaton ’05. Operation Smile is a non-profit organization helping to fund life-changing surgeries for children in need. She was honored for her hard work with a service award for performing over 400 community service hours during her high school career. During this time, and through her charity work, Madeleine’s love of working with children and helping those less fortunate continued to blossom. After graduating from Mater Dei in 2009, Madeleine went on to Gonzaga University where she majored in Communications and Public Relations with a minor in Sociology. She intended to pursue a career in public relations for non-profit organizations. After various PR internships and a short stint in the corporate world, Madeleine quickly realized the corporate environment was the wrong path for her. Her passion was working with students, and she belonged in a classroom. She followed her heart, and obtained her Master of Arts in Teaching Secondary English at the University of Southern California. In regards to her gravitating toward teaching English specifically, Madeleine cites her love of reading that was fostered and nurtured at Pegasus. She has fond memories of Mrs. Gorsage reading to her class from The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwiler in the fifth grade. Madeleine believes “being a reader makes a person a lifelong learner.” She revels in her position as a freshman English teacher to be able to bring a similar love of reading to her own students. Returning to her roots, Madeleine has been teaching English at Mater Dei since 2015. In addition to teaching English and Honors English to freshman, she is also the Lower Level Class Activities Advisor for freshmen and sophomore students.
