Christ Christoff - Revision history

Wjanowski at 12:19, 24 May 2015

2015-05-24T12:19:51Z

Wjanowski at 13:10, 20 May 2015

2015-05-20T13:10:32Z

Wjanowski at 12:50, 20 May 2015

2015-05-20T12:50:21Z

Wjanowski at 12:08, 20 May 2015

2015-05-20T12:08:34Z

Wjanowski: Created page with "right From the 1969-70 Quill and Blade: "A newcomer to Lew Wallace, Mr. Christ Christoff assumed a multitude of responsibilities as p..."

2015-05-12T14:49:18Z

Created page with "right From the 1969-70 Quill and Blade: "A newcomer to Lew Wallace, Mr. Christ Christoff assumed a multitude of responsibilities as p..."

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[[File:Christ_Christoff_1970.jpg|600px|right]]

From the 1969-70 Quill and Blade:
"A newcomer to Lew Wallace, Mr. Christ Christoff assumed a multitude of responsibilities as principal of Lew Wallace High School. During this year, Mr. Christoff worked to familiarize himself with our school and to complete the bridge of understanding between L.W.'s 2300 students and 105 teachers."

''- Diana Rudd''

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 '''INTERVIEW WITH CHRIST CHRISTOFF<br/>
-LEW WALLACE HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL 1970-1988'''
+LEW WALLACE HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL 1969-1988'''
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 Mr. Christoff was more than prepared for my visit, using suggested topical guidelines I had submitted to him earlier.  Of course we went far into other things as well, but it was fascinating to listen to him and learn more about the school.
-Mr. Christoff came to Lew Wallace as principal in 1970, replacing William Vorwald.  Mr. Christoff had been on the administrative staff at Froebel High School in Gary as well as other positions in the school corporation.  His assistant principals when he arrived were Joseph Black and Alfred Smith.
+Mr. Christoff came to Lew Wallace as principal in 1969, replacing William Vorwald.  Mr. Christoff had been on the administrative staff at Froebel High School in Gary as well as other positions in the school corporation.  His assistant principals when he arrived were Joseph Black and Alfred Smith.
 Serving as long as he did at Lew Wallace, Christoff was confronted with the major shifts in attitudes, morals, and social pressures that came to bear, particularly in the early to mid 1970’s.  He remembers male students being sent to his office for a “violation” of the dress code:  sideburns longer than what was deemed appropriate, as an example.  As a self-described student advocate, Christoff worked within the Gary school system to get dress codes eased in light of the new freedoms of the time.  He also recalls one year when the cheerleaders came to him about the uniforms they were wearing for games; with well below-the-knee and box-pleated skirts, they were not comfortable with the school image they projected.  In time, the cheerleaders had new uniforms and the squads - junior and varsity - were both integrated racially under his direction.
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 A special pride of Mr. Christoff’s is that during his tenure, the school housed all the programs for the city that were offered for special needs students.  There were sight-impaired classes, hearing impaired, emotionally disturbed, learning delayed and possibly one other he couldn’t quite recall.  At one point in time, one of the longtime teachers on staff had had a stroke, but once she was up and about in a wheelchair, she wanted to come back to work with the full blessings of her medical doctor.  After brainstorming and tossing ideas around with others, she was assigned to be the guidance counselor for the pupils with disabilities.  Ahead of his time, Mr. Christoff was advocating for the disabled individuals of the school, not just students, but staff as well.
-Also under his career at Lew Wallace, the school became the only one in all of Indiana to offer six foreign language courses of study.  When he arrived, French, Spanish and German classes were available; he brought in through his own efforts Russian and Latin teachers to enrich the curriculum offered.  This is one of his special prides as he looks back at his term there.
+Also under his career at Lew Wallace, the school became the only one in all of Indiana to offer five foreign language courses of study.  When he arrived, French, Spanish and German classes were available; he brought in through his own efforts Russian and Latin teachers to enrich the curriculum offered.  This is one of his special prides as he looks back at his term there.
 Mr. Christoff was very integral in developing all the “X” or excelled classes in the Gary schools - and of course Lew Wallace - as well.  These new classes branched out into areas that had been largely overlooked before when it came to honors programs such as math, sciences, arts, and foreign languages.
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 An anecdote that just makes one shake their head is from the very beginning of Mr. Christoff’s time at the school.  He asked the head custodian to please show him around every nook and cranny of the building; not just the main rooms, but the basements and subterranean areas as well.  He found a couple of interesting items:  first, in a room no larger than some stall showers (which served as the head custodian’s office), was the graduation portrait of the Class of 1932, the school’s first.  I think he said it made its way elsewhere more visible shortly.  Secondly, when we spoke of the basements and sub-basements of the building, I recalled the old yellow and black “Fallout Shelter” signs that used to be attached to the exterior of the building.  Eyes dancing, Mr. Christoff told me that when he first went to the sub-basement, there were signs on the walls left from the Second World War declaring the area an Air Raid Shelter and there were canned rations of food on the shelves!  Remember, this was 25 years after the war had ended!  Oh, to have a photo of that find.
-Christ Christoff is a Gary, Indiana, native, having grown up near his father’s store near 13th Avenue and Adams Street.  I believe he is a Froebel High School graduate who went on to earn a degree and then became a social studies teacher.  He also spent time on staff at Emerson High School; when he left Lew Wallace in 1988, he became assistant director for elementary and secondary schools for the city.  He estimates that during his administrative career with the Gary schools, he trained 7 or 8 principals and one superintendent of the city schools, Myrtle Campbell.
+Christ Christoff is a Gary, Indiana, native, having grown up in the neighborhood surrounding his father’s store near 13th Avenue and Adams Street.  I believe he is a Froebel High School graduate who went on to earn a degree and then became a social studies teacher.  He also spent time on staff at Emerson High School; when he left Lew Wallace in 1988, he became assistant director for elementary and secondary schools for the city.  He estimates that during his administrative career with the Gary schools, he trained 7 or 8 principals and one superintendent of the city schools, Myrtle Campbell.
 He served in the military, drafted in 1956, and was all too happy to return to civilian life.  His love of history endures today and he is widely read on World War I and World War II, as well as presidential biographies. He is a model train buff and also a very talented artist, working in oils and watercolors.

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:10, 20 May 2015
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	'''INTERVIEW WITH CHRIST CHRISTOFF<br/>		'''INTERVIEW WITH CHRIST CHRISTOFF<br/>

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 Asked what his concerns are in today’s education system, he points to the growing prevalence of charter schools, where only certain students are able to receive the education that all deserve.  He acknowledges that William Wirt’s “work, play, study” philosophy had lived its lifetime, but the educator in him wants every child to have the chance to succeed.
-''- Kim Syeinert''
+''- Kim Steinert''
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 [[File:Christ_Christoff_1970.jpg|600px|right]]
-From the 1969-70 Quill and Blade:
+'''INTERVIEW WITH CHRIST CHRISTOFF<br/>
-"A newcomer to Lew Wallace, Mr. Christ Christoff assumed a multitude of responsibilities as principal of Lew Wallace High School. During this year, Mr. Christoff worked to familiarize himself with our school and to complete the bridge of understanding between L.W.'s 2300 students and 105 teachers."
+LEW WALLACE HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL 1970-1988'''
-''- Diana Rudd''
 Back to [[Main Page]]