This week's personality: Michelle D'Amico, head of the McMullen parents' association

Michelle D’Amico admits she is driven.

The president of the R.F. McMullen Elementary School Parents' Association has led the organization’s construction of an outdoor classroom on the playground last school year. Now the group has taken on the challenge of replacing the floor in the school gymnasium.

“First off, let me stress that I had lots of help in the McMullen projects from an amazing membership,” said the Loudonville High graduate, who went to college at Bowling Green State University and lived and worked in Columbus and later in Maryland near Washington, D.C., before returning to her hometown in 2020.

“I began involvement in the McMullen Parents Association by showing up at a meeting,” D’Amico said. “One of our favorite reminders to each other is, if you have feelings, show up. Any caregiver is welcome to come to the meetings. I had two daughters at McMullen, and one more kiddo who would be soon, so I showed up.”

McMullen school playground and gym projects

“That was after the COVID-19 recess, during which the organization was inactive for almost two years,” she continued. “We got together last school year. The first discussion was coming up with a way to provide more shade on the playground, which led to our decision to build an outdoor classroom, not only to provide shade but also to gather in groups outdoors while COVID lingered."

That project cost $30,000 and it's still not complete, D’Amico said.

“We still want to provide water for the classroom, and electric service for food trucks at open house, both of which are extremely expensive.”

The motivation to build a new floor for the school gym “came from children actually getting injured on the old one, which is nothing more than floor tile mounted on a concrete surface,” she said. “Our membership voted to take on the project, and at the September school board meeting we presented our intent to the board. Now we have to figure out how we are going to do it, and what kind of floor we will install. None of that is decided. Our next step is forming our committee to get things done.”

They are doing fundraising currently through a catalog sales program along with what she called “alternative fundraising, accepting donations in lieu of catalog purchases, which some people prefer,” she said.

Working with her are fellow officers Devin Goudy, vice-president; Ashley Wilson, secretary; Julie Stitzlein, treasurer; and Asia Van Horn, social media director. Also, a huge help in the outdoor classroom project was member Jordan Butler, she said.

“We also have an amazing group of other workers,” D'Amico added. “We have 22 members now, and always will welcome new ones. This is the biggest the association’s membership has been in years.”

"It seems I have always been (driven). I get that from my parents, my mother who was a committed and long-term teacher at the McMullen School, and my dad, who was a fair board member and involved in other community activities.”

Michelle D'Amico's return to her hometown

While at Loudonville High, she said, she was in everything.

"FFA, school newspaper, and, as a member of Zion Lutheran Church, the youth representative on the then newly created WZLP radio station the church sponsored.”

In college at Bowling Green, she was involved in competitive public speaking programs and volunteered as an assistant speech coach at nearby Perrysburg High School.

She earned a bachelor's degree in communications at Bowling Green in 2007, and pursued a master's degree in communication and rhetoric at Central Michigan University, where she also coached competitive public speaking.

She then landed a job at Morgan Stanley, starting as a phone operator and advancing to the position of retirement account specialist, concentrating on back-office processing, paperwork and logistic details for retirement account holders. She and husband, Aaron D’Amico, a Clevelander, married in 2013. He works as a cybersecurity engineer for Okta, now working that position from their home in rural Lakeville.

They have three children. Mairi, 8, a third grader at McMullen; Genevieve, 6, a first grader; and Quinn, 3, who just started preschool.

She worked with Morgan Stanley in Columbus for three years before moving to the Washington, D.C.. area for Aaron’s employment, living in a small town in Maryland.

“I discovered something in Maryland I did not like,” she said. “There the schools are governed by a county board of education, unlike Ohio, where the board is locally elected. I feel the local control serves the local communities much better and encourages community involvement.”

She said she is pleased with the connection the McMullen parents have made with school district building and grounds Superintendent Shane McCaskey.

“I can call him up for assistance on anything,” she said. “If it were not for him, our projects would not have been possible.”

Involvement in the parent’s group “also gives me a chance to communicate with fellow parents,” she said. “I love the aspect of small-town living where community support makes our schools, and our town, stronger.”

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Meet Michelle D'Amico, president of McMullen Elementary Parents group