Miss Vivian Beachy taught English at Eastern Mennonite School for forty years and developed an outstanding English curriculum that many regard as the heart and soul of the academic program of the school. Miss Beachy, originally from Greenwood, Delaware, began teaching English at Eastern Mennonite School in 1955 and retired an impressive forty years later in 1995.
Miss Beachy served on the school’s Curriculum Committee, assisted with self-study processes for accreditation, and kept faculty meeting minutes as Secretary. She advised the Philomathean literary society and the school’s newspaper Windsock. She left her mark, however, by designing and implementing a comprehensive English Department curriculum that has impacted students from 1955 to today.
The writing curriculum developed by Miss Beachy helped many students develop their writing skills as students and later as alumni. Randy Seitz ’82, for instance, remembers that Miss Beachy’s Basic Composition class was where he learned how to write. Jodi Nisly ’91 Hertzler, a current English teacher at EMS, recalls that Miss Beachy taught her the mechanics of developing a classic five paragraph essay in 8th grade.
Miss Beachy served others in overseas and stateside locations, she was active in her local church, and she faithfully pursued her career in Christian Education at EMS. Most would agree that her forty years of English teaching anchored the school as a leader in teaching students the elements, strategies, and knowledge needed for excellent writing.
