GORDON ALUMNI CONNECTION Summer/Fall 2010 - The Gordon ...

ELIZABETH BAKST
Dear Mrs. Bakst,
You have been the beginning for
many parents embarking on their first
relationship with a teacher. How
fortunate for those of us who had your
careful guidance, your knowledgeable
insight into our children and your
love for teaching.
Ever so fondly,
Susan Stevenson (Parent of Stevenson
’98 and Abby Waite ’02)
Preschool was the vital backbone in
my early childhood experience, it was
there where I fully understood the
meaning of being young and living life
to the fullest. Activities as simple as
dancing spontaneously, guiding my
fashion sense in the dress-up section
and willingly listening to my daily
recounting of Sesame Street episodes;
it was these steps of genuine care, that
lasted in my memory and made Mrs.
Bakst such an incredible teacher.
Diana Alsabe ’07
Preschool teacher Elizabeth Bakst retired this June after
twenty-five years of teaching at the Gordon School. She
began her career at Gordon in September 1985, the school
year her daughter, Margaret Bakst Yarlas ’86 graduated from
eighth grade.
Elizabeth has touched the lives of over 475 Gordon students.
Many of them sent in letters and drawings which were
bound into a scrapbook and presented to her at the school’s
Annual Meeting.
Some members of the Class of 2010 in Preschool (2000)
The lessons I learned in Mrs. Bakst’s Preschool class go far beyond the walls
of her classroom; they are lessons I still use today. Mrs. Bakst showed me that
doing the little things like saying hello, goodbye, please and thank you, and using
someone’s name when talking to them can go a long way. Thank you, Mrs. Bakst
for teaching me how to be a better person. Ash Wall ’01
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