Applewood Christian has leadership change

Pamela Young, who has spent the last five years as principal of Applewood Christian School, is retiring.

Young’s involvement with the school began in 2000 when she enrolled her children there.

She learned the school was looking for a fourth-grade teacher and applied for the position.

In 2002, she became assistant principal and taught many subjects including biology, physics and algebra.

Applewood alumni and board members said Young’s commitment to the school will be missed.

 “Her many hours of seeing to scraped knees, encouraging students during challenging times, keeping basketball scores and being an example of a godly woman is a great legacy to all Applewood families,” said Sandy Wedemeyer, retired principal and board member.
Melissa Backe, a 2010 graduate, said Young was a mentor, helper and good listener.
“Her honesty and humor make her a great leader,” Backe said.

While Young was known for giving her full attention to the students and staff, she was quick to donate her time and possessions as well.

Drama teacher Dharma Leon said Young always supported the theater productions.
“It’s incredible,” Leon said. “But every play we’ve done has always used some costume, prop, or furniture from her home.”

Dr. Donald Allcorn, who has sent four children to Applewood, said he often saw Young working at extracurricular events.

“I can’t count the number of times I have been here for Applewood events and found Mrs. Young steadily working behind the scenes to make the Applewood family members better children of God and the Maplewood buildings a better home,” Allcorn said. “I’m not sure how many times the mileage in her minivan has rolled over 100,000, but I truly believe that her prayers have kept it together.”

Applewood, which celebrated its 20th anniversary during the 2008-09 school year, is a nondenominational private school dedicated to discipling students to become future Christian leaders. The school rents its space from Maplewood Church at Highway O, just north of the Monsees Lakes subdivision.

According to the school’s website, www.applewoodweb.net, educating an Applewood student is a partnership between teachers, parents and students. Teachers present the concepts to students on Monday, Wednesday and Friday in a classroom. Students are home-schooled on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Michal Herrington and Debra Church have been named co-principals of the school.

Church, who has been at Applewood for 10 years, has taught language, literature, Bible, music and family studies. Church earned a bachelor of science in psychology and sociology with an emphasis in counseling and child and family studies from Southwest Baptist University.

Herrington joins Applewood as a home schooling mother of four. She has a master of arts in education with an emphasis on counseling and services in higher education from the University of Western Kentucky University.

Young said she couldn’t have done her job alone.

“I could not have done anything without Jesus as the savior and lord of my life, and the support of my family.”