A "Theine" name, a huge heart!
"Smart!" "Creative!" "Kind!" "Mathematic!"

These are just a few of the words that come to the minds of our St. Boniface students when you ask them to give you one word describing Ms. T.

For the uninititated, Ms. T is short for Ms. Theine (pronounced "tiny"), St. Boniface's Math Specialist. Ms. T doesn't have a regular classroom. You won't find her filling out reports or worrying about state tests. Moreover, that is just the way she likes it because that gives her more time to teach!

What you will find is Ms. T creating math games (100+ at last count), working with individual students or small groups of students and sometimes working with a whole class of students. Come the end of the school year, Ms. T organizes a Math Fair for the whole school held in Sippel Hall.

According to Sr. Delores, "She really gets excited to make new games for the children. The most rewarding thing for her is to see the children learn from the activities she has created."

Sr. Delores should know. She is, after all, Ms. T's older sister. The two sisters, along with a third sibling all graduated from St. Boniface. "It was always one of her dreams to return to St. Boniface and give her time and talents back to the school because she felt St. Boniface had done so much for helping her become who she is," Sister Delores added.

Her fee for all those talents: $0. Ms. T does all her work on a volunteer basis. After 33 years of teaching in Mequon, Ms. T retired more than 20 years ago and began volunteering at St. Boniface immediately.

According to Sr. Delores, Ms. T's volunteer work is not going to end any time soon.

"Teaching is so life-giving for her. It provides so much energy. She doesn't see herself giving it up at all," Sister Delores said.

In addition to teaching, Ms. T also coordinates the collection of the Box Tops for Education for St. Boniface. She secures thousands of dollars for the school each year managing the Box Tops.

So, here's a quick math question for you. What does all of the experience, dedication, and enthusiasm add up to for St. Boniface? Well, that is priceless.