As principal of Peoria Academy for nearly seven years, Karen Calder upholds the idea of offering creative challenges to grade school children. Since the opening of the private, non-profit academy in 2000, the school has more than doubled in number of students and is exploring the prospect of expansion. Beginning at DePauw University in Indiana, Calder earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Attending schools in North Carolina, Ohio and Illinois, she achieved her teaching certificate. In 1988, Calder received her master’s degree in special education from Illinois State University. Teaching in each of the above states (except Indiana), Calder eventually moved to Peoria and served District 150 for three years. In 1993, she was hired as the principal of Praise and Leadership Academy (PALS), where she continued until December 1999. After 27 years of living in Peoria, Calder and her second husband now enjoy being “empty-nesters” as the last of their combined seven children heads off to college.
The support of the Community Workshop and Training Center is not tucked away on University Street, but is growing in the hearts of those who have been helped by or contribute to the center’s services.
When I first began working in the field of addiction treatment many years ago, I consistently gave my clients the same message: you have the power to choose the life you want.
If you follow these tips, you will have treasured portraits that create warm memories of chubby toes and fingers, precious expressions and the wonder of childhood.
