March 2001                                                          The Megaphone                                                                    Page 3

Teresa (Dickey) Hollowell

  Teresa Hollowell is the fifth in the series of moderators to be written about in this series. Teresa was born in San Diego, California, but considers herself an Elwoodite since the Dickey family can count 5 generations of Elwood residents.

  Teresa is a busy single mom.  Her three boys (ages 20, 17, and 7) would be enough for one person. But, she was not content to be a stay at home mom. Teresa has attended college and received a Bachelor's Degree from IUPUI in 1998 majoring in English Education with a Computer Endorsement. She is currently planning to graduate with a Master's Degree in Educational Counseling from IUPUI this year.

  Teresa first found out about the Panther Den from her father, Charles Dickey, who in turn learned about it from "Igor" (Loretta Dodd). When she joined, there were only 7 members so Teresa can count herself among the first of the Den members.  Teresa said, "I emailed Doc one day…and asked him if he had the time and dedication to carry it off for the whole town. We met a couple of times…and worked on our craft enough to catch the attention of the search engines and, Voila, here we are. We had no idea that it would take off and become such an experience that Doc would need nine helpers to keep it clean and worry free for the users."

  Teresa has provided a link to the Panther Den from the City of Elwood site which she maintains and has recently updated for the fifteenth time! She says she has difficulty keeping up with the Elwood site as she has "a bunch posted to the Internet." The Elwood City site was part of a class project and she not only created a wonderful site for our fair city, but also earned herself a 197 out of a possible 200 points for completing it. One of her latest ventures has been to post movies of Denstock I on the Web. If one is interested, they can be accessed at the following address: http://php.iupui.edu/~icce500/movie

  Teresa's computer skills aren't limited to creating Web sites and posting. She also repairs and updates computers.  She will travel all over to purchase computer hard and software at good prices and use it in one of the 6 computers she has in her living room. Or, she will sell these items to people who need them.

  Teresa's personal goals include applying "first-hand experience in career and crisis counseling to students and parents to help them cope with the changing educational and technological requirements of our society." She has also been involved in trying to save an old building that has been in her family for years. A small business called Mother's Dream has been opened in this building. It is usually only open during the Glass Festival. Teresa has items on consignment, antiques, and collectibles for sale. There are also custom alterations and repairs done to clothing at the store.

   Finally, as if this lady weren't busy enough, she is a substitute teacher in the Elwood, Tipton, and Tri-Central Schools. Her way of handling substitute teaching is to say that "the beauty of being a perpetual ‘substitute teacher,’ (is that) everyday you can have an identity crisis and don't know who you are until you get there!" This author has a hunch that Teresa is very well aware of who she is and definitely is contributing a lot back to this world and the Panther Den.