International Women’s Day was March 8, but since our blog was on hiatus on that date, we are going to celebrate the holiday in today’s blog. Women have played a big role in American School’s 125 years of success, and today we’d like to focus on three of them. Mary McKeown was affiliated with American School for more than 75 years as an instructor, principal, educational director and trustee. During her time with American School, she helped thousands of students earn a high school diploma at home and was instrumental in determining what courses and credits would be appropriate for students in our general high school program and college preparatory program. Roberta Allen was guidance counselor, curriculum director and executive vice-president and is perhaps best known as the author of Planning Your Career, which to this day remains one of our most popular high school correspondence courses. She also wrote and edited many other textbooks and study guides for our paper-based high school courses. Finally, Valerie Riley is American School’s first female president, and during her five-year tenure American School has expanded its online learning offerings and has given students more flexibility to learn in the way that is most comfortable to them. We are happy and grateful to Mary, Roberta, Valerie and the hundreds of other women who have called American School home over the years. We could not have made it to 125 years without them.
