PS 8 Volunteer Profile:
Gean SooHoo Mathney
Story by Sara Doar
Photograph by Aki Tucci
At 23 years and counting, Gean SooHoo Mathney may just hold the record for volunteering at P.S. 8. Gean is responsible for the monthly calendar that many parents describe as their "bible." She also puts together the annual photo day.
"I'm very good on details and these two jobs require that kind of skill," she said during a recent interview. Deadlines are important to Gean as well. "I try very hard to get that monthly calendar into kids' backpacks days before the new month starts." She admits that this sometimes requires a bit of badgering to get all the important dates and the menu in time to do all the copying.
Gean is also good at multi-tasking. While conversing about her volunteer duties, she stops mid-sentence to ask a teacher how long it will take to get the pre-kindergartners into the building from the trailers. "You need to plan every minute on photo day because everything must run smoothly. I always do the younger kids first because if they eat lunch before the picture, they'll be a mess."
If you haven't guessed, Gean knows kids and the troubles they are apt to have. This is because she has spent the last 23 years of her life raising her own three children and taking care of other children in her home-based pre-school. The oldest of seven children, Gean says even as a child she enjoyed her siblings. "My father always said I should be a teacher, but I went to school and became a medical laboratory technologist and a nuclear medicine technologist."
Gean worked at St. Vincent's Hospital until her twin boys started school. She quickly realized that taking care of her family and working a night shift was not a good fit. That's when she hit on the idea of opening her own business. "I wanted to have my cake and eat it too. I needed an income, but wanted to be there for my children, so I opened my pre-school and got fully certified through the Department of Health." Gean still operates the pre-school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and is proud that many of her alumni are successful students at P.S. 8. "We enjoy lots of free playtime, but there is also a daily routine that includes lots of early learning activities to familiarize children with letters and numbers." Anyone interested in Gean's program can call her at 718-596-5143.
Over the years, Gean has filled many PTA roles. She started as the Assistant Treasurer in 1986 when her boys started kindergarten. The next year she became the treasurer and continued on the executive board until her daughter graduated. Gean also coordinated the arts and enrichment program at P.S. 8 for more than seven years. Her three children went on to Friends Seminary and then Hamilton College, Wesleyan University and the University of Pennsylvania. "P.S. 8 gave my children a wonderful start and a strong foundation," says the proud mother.
Though her children left P.S. 8 long ago, Gean has never severed the tie. She still spends several afternoons a week at the school. She also organizes childcare for PTA meetings. For her extraordinary community service, the Brooklyn Heights Association gave Gean its annual award in 2003.
Posted on: January 13, 2009
