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I am anchor
Shawn Uphoff takes over as PTO president
PTO President.jpg
Posted
Joey Postiglione, Reporter
This school year the Fountain Hills PTO is under new leadership, but newly-elected president, Shawn Uphoff, is not a new face in the PTO.
Uphoff has lived with her family in Fountain Hills for 15 years. She currently has an eighth grader at Fountain Hills Middle School and a son who graduated from the high school in 2014.
“I got really involved when my daughter was little at McDowell Mountain Elementary School as a class parent and I also got involved in the high school when my son got there,” Uphoff said. “Then I got to know the previous presidents when our kids were in fourth grade together. They approached me and asked if I wanted to be on the board and that was something I never thought about.”
After giving it some thought Uphoff did join the PTO board and became one of the PTO’s vice presidents at FHMS, where she would report back to the club on the goings-on and needs of the school.
Uphoff never planned on taking on the role of PTO president but, when the former president needed to pass on the role, many people close to her encouraged her to take on the challenge.
“Initially I would think about taking over and I would get really scared,” Uphoff said. “But I met with Nicole one on one and she talked me through some stuff and then just really encouraged me to bring my own style to the leadership role.”
The final voice that pushed Uphoff over the edge was her husband’s.
Since taking over in the summer, Uphoff has been busy updating various aspects of the PTO.
“Our board is absolutely amazing, I feel like we have accomplished a lot since the beginning of the year,” Uphoff said. “We worked so hard over the summer launching a new website and really just took things back to the beginning. Things like reviewing bylaws and mission statements.”
Going forward Uphoff wants to feather the nest with Falcon pride and continue to build a sense of community in a school district that is unlike its peers.
“Fountain Hills is so unique compared to other districts in the Valley and one of the things that makes us that way is our size,” Uphoff said. “We just want to let people know that we are all in this together.”
Fountain Hills PTO recently finished its fall coin drive but other fundraisers, like the Apex Fun Run and book fairs, will take place later this school year.
