This website is dedicated to my father, Jack Pennington. He taught Driver's Education and Math at Smethport and later became the Vice Principal and then Principal. I don't know what brought him here from his VERY small hometown of Glen Campbell, PA near Indiana, but somehow, this is where we ended up. We lived in Louisiana (which is where the picture to the left was taken) while my father got his Master's degree, and still we came back for more. He had some bad times at Smethport High School, but from looking back through old yearbooks and after having heard from some of his students from the early days of his career, I know that he did have some very good times.

For those of you who don't know, my father died in 1987. In fact, he died in the janitor's room at the high school. Apparently, he had walked to school as he always did, went down to visit his friends in the janitor's room as he always did, and had a heart attack. Phil Irons noticed that he didn't look well and got Jane Defilippi who performed CPR and tried to save him. (Thank you Mrs. Defilippi!) Sue Bennett, who was also a good friend to my father, also helped, but I don't think there was anything they could have done to save him.

Despite the fact that he always told me that I should NOT become a teacher, I went ahead and did it anyway! I was a math major in college and teach math like my father did. I think that my teaching "style" is probably like that of my father, too. I like to joke around with my students. They may not all like math, but at least they know that we can try and have fun in class as long as we get our work done. I know that I have a lot to learn about teaching, but I do feel that it is what I really want to do.

If you have any stories about my father that you would like to share with me or that you wouldn't mind sharing with others on the website, I would love to hear from you. Email me at alumni@smethportalumni.com!