Milton resident and Fontbonne Academy Instructional Technology Specialist and Teacher, Dianne Pappafotopoulos, recently received an award for her ten years of service with Virtual High School (VHS). VHS, an organization based in Maynard, MA, is a leader in online education and professional development.

VHS administrators Suzanne Harlow, Senior Account Manager, and Patricia DiMaggio, School Services Registrar came to Fontbonne Academy to meet Mrs. Pappafotopoulos, after sharing many online interactions.  Mrs. Pappafotopoulos is considered an education pioneer in the VHS program, having worked with them for the last ten of their fourteen years.  Mrs. Pappafotopoulos began as a site coordinator at Fontbonne and transitioned to teaching VHS courses; she is in her second year of teaching.  Mary Ellen Barnes, Head of School at Fontbonne Academy is proud of Mrs. Pappafotopoulos’ accomplishments, “Online education is truly a 21^st Century learning resource and we are pleased to offer VHS to all our students.”

Mrs. Pappafotopoulos currently teaches the VHS course “Creative Writing”  online to various students throughout the country and manages Fontbonne Academy students who take a variety of courses in the online program. In her dual role, she serves as the Fontbonne Academy site coordinator and teacher while being the chairperson for the Technology Department and teaching face-to-face courses.  “It is a wonderful opportunity for Fontbonne Academy students to be able to take courses online from such a wide range of disciplines in AP, Honors and Standard formats,” she added,  “For example, senior Megan Healey ’11 recently completed a ‘Kindergarten Internship’ class where she was able to complete coursework through VHS and do a hands-on internship at Glover Elementary School, just down the road from Fontbonne.  Another example is Pan Zhu ’11, whose interest in Math was met with a course entitled, ‘AP Statistics.’”

“What is great about VHS is that it marries students’ passions with their coursework,” said Suzanne Harlow of VHS, “we have so many great courses and students from all over the world take advantage of the program.”