Hi there! I am Shawn Clark Pistorino and am thrilled to be part of the amazing Copper Beech PTA this year! I have two CB Cubs in 1st and 4th grade. I grew up in Glenside, and remember when the land this school was built on was the giant field for traveling circuses and Revolutionary War reenactments. No joke!

The Copper Beech community is one of the best I have been part of. I wanted a way to become even more involved and helpful not only to the school administration but to the parents and students as well. I have been part of the Scholastic Book Fair, a library volunteer, after-school activity helper, and homeroom liaison every year since my oldest was in Kindergarten, and I helped lead the inaugural Copperpalooza in May 2022. I love to volunteer and come up with (too grand) ideas any chance I get. You will find me at all of the big events in the back of the house making sure things are running along and cracking glow sticks or blowing up beach balls. 

I am a retired full-time overscheduled professional musician who lived in NYC for 25 years, where my first child (and current 4th grader) was born. I was a dancer prior to becoming a vocalist, which means I have spent 4 decades performing! I am now a full-time Program Coordinator for the Southeast US at American Reading Company (ARC), a dual language literacy curriculum company. It is the next best thing to being a librarian or bookshop owner, which is what I want to be when I grow up. Our family includes 4 people, 2 cats, 1 dog, and a lot of books, various soccer balls, many gardens, Legos, and art projects. 

I can't wait to get to know more of you here at CB!

Contact me at sclark@copperbeachpta.com

CB Parents, Caregivers, Teachers & Staff,

My name is Louis “Lou” GrowMiller and I am thrilled to serve as President of YOUR Copper Beech's Parent Teacher Association (PTA).  My husband, Michael and I joined the CB family back in 2016 when our oldest, Gabriella started Kindergarten. This year she will be in 6th grade at the Middle School and our son, Mason will be in 3rd @ CB.   I was fortunate to have previously served as one of the VPs and President-Elect of the PTA and helped organize Fall Fest, Restaurant fundraisers, CB-INGO, CB-Palooza, Goodies with Guests and the inaugural Cougar Crawl.  I am looking forward to an amazing year and getting to know you.

Outside of CB, I am a Licensed Social Worker with over two decades of experience in child welfare, having earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from Lock Haven and Widener Universities respectively.  Since 2009, I have been employed with one of the largest social services agencies in Philadelphia called Turning Points for Children, a Public Health Management Corporation affiliate.  I have been employed as the Senior Director of Family Services since 2017.  In this role, I work with our foster care, adoption, family engagement, and older youth clinical programming as well as our food and wellness pantries.  Nationally, I serve as a board member of Family Focused Treatment Association (FFTA) and locally on the board of the Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth, and Family Services (PCCYFS).  I enjoy advocating for the rights of LGBTQ foster parents and youth.  You may have previously heard me on NPR with Nina Totenberg discussing the Fulton vs. City of Philadelphia Supreme Court Case or on Season 3 of the podcast, "Sounds Like Hate: Fostering Hate, part 1 and 2". 

Outside of work, I am a 320 Master Mason and has volunteered as an advisor for their sponsored youth group, DeMolay since 2000.  I currently volunteer as the Senior Deputy Executive Officer for the state of Pennsylvania and Grand Stewart of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania Free Masons.

Again, I look forward to meeting and working with all of you. Together, we are Copper Beech!   Feel free to email me at: lgrowmiller@copperbeechpta.com.

Thank you!

Lou

Alyssia Zimmaro is in her first year on the PTA board, serving in the treasurer role.  Alyssia (and her husband Dave) are originally from NE Philadelphia and they moved to Glenside in 2018.  She has one child at CB: Christian(1st grade).  She also has two more children who will eventually attend Copper Beech: Julianna (4 years old) and Alexander (2 years old).

Alyssia worked at John B.  Stetson Charter school from 2012-2022.  She spent the first 6 years as an 8th grade math teacher and then ended her time there as an instructional coach.  She is stepping away from education this year to start a new opportunity with her father.  She will be taking on the role of operations coordinator at Aardvark Pest Management.  This is a part time gig for Alyssia and she is excited to have more time to dedicate to helping our CB community.

In her free time Alyssia enjoys spinning, the beach, and reading.  She is so excited to play an active role in our CB PTA community.  Don't hesitate to reach out if you need her.

E:Mail – azimmaro@copperbeechpta.com 

Erin Vizza serves as one of the Vice Presidents of the Copper Beech PTA.  She joined the PTA after having a conversation with a former Copper Beech mom who told her the best way to get a feel for the school was to volunteer--no matter how big or how small the job. She started small and then quickly became more active in events and leadership. Her volunteering paid off and she felt much more connected to the parent, teacher and administration community of Copper Beech.  Erin and her husband have three children: Gabriel (5th), Evan (2nd) and Audrey (Pre-K).  

Erin works part-time and her favorite PTA program is the Cougar Guides.

Don't hesitate to reach out at evizza@copperbeechpta.com!

serves as 1 of 3 Vice Presidents

This is my 4th year on the PTA board and I am excited to be back at the Beech. I have  3 children Elizabeth,8th, Thomas, 6th and Vivian, 3rd. Hard to believe my older Two are already in the middle school.  I joined the board as I wanted to contritube to the CB community and get to know everyone better. I am still learning Teachers names, but slowly improving. I love finding new activities and events for the students and meeting new families. 

Outside of the PTA, I work part time for at a Non-profit as an Administrative Coordinator.  Also, I love to exercise and recently started working part time at Cyclebar Abington. 

I look forward to a fun year and hope to see some new faces on the PTA. 

 

Hey y'all! I am your current President Elect and it is my first year on the PTA. I have two beautiful daughters in ASD. My oldest, Jocelyn, is a former cub (always a cub at heart) and still enjoys coming back and helping with events. The baby cub, Aliyah, is in kindergarten this year. I used to be a manager at Lowes and I loved developing and helping others. I have been blessed to stay home and filled my time babysitting other's precious cubs. During Covid, I went back to school for education and I am hoping to continue my education soon to figure out what I want to do when I grow up :) I enjoy reading, drinking coffee, learning about psychology, the beach and watching Philadelphia sports.                                                                                                 

I am excited (and have some jitters) to be on the CB PTA. I started volunteering for publishing center last year. I had a blast working with our children and I wanted to give more of my new free time to CB. I am so excited to see new faces volunteer! I love learning about others and hearing new ideas. 

I can't wait to meet you! Go birds!

Greetings!

I'm a firm believer in it taking a village to raise our children so I'm thankful for the PTA village at Copperbeech (CB).  After sitting back on the sidelines just making occasional purchases & attending a few events in my son's early years, I decided I want to lean in full force with the PTA & be a larger part of the CB village.

My son, Kern, is a 3rd grader & his experiences at CB have been altered with the pandemic so I'm truly trying to learn about ALL that the PTA has to offer our community to ensure everyone understands more clearly what the events & activities entail!  We hit some hard times as a family & I realized the connectivity that CB PTA could offer would do my Haitian-American child & myself a world of good.

My goal as the marketing director is to help provide transparency, clarity, inclusion, & timely communication for all events.  It helps to have as many people as possible registered for this PTBoard site so we can use this as our main communication portal so if you don't mind asking your friend or neighbor if they've registered for PTBoard... can you help drum up the word?

I'm a single full-time working Mom that thrives on networking, coffee, traveling, playing catch with my dog, & watching my son play sports.  During the day, in between walking my son to & from school, you can find me working hard for PCI Graphics developing new business in high impact & large format graphics/installation such as corporate decor, wall murals, large banners, playground graphics, indoor & outdoor signage, etc.  

Reach out anytime - email, call, text - strate@copperbeechpta.com or 610-507-4032.

Cordially,

Sue