By Sarah Goodykoontz
If you have not heard the name “Calahan” around school at least once a day, you have not been here long enough, or you have not been listening. This just goes to show how popular the Calahan family is at Tempe Prep, and for a good reason. The Calahans arguably have been one of the most involved families at Tempe Prep, providing years of service to the school.
According to Mrs. Nancy Calahan, the family lived in Minneapolis in 1996, with plans to move to Phoenix. Mrs. Calahan knew another family who had just moved to Phoenix and asked them for advice on schools and neighborhoods to live in. They said they had just heard about a new charter school opening in the fall of 1996 and sent them a brochure on Tempe Preparatory Academy.
Mrs. Calahan says, “As a home-schooling family in past years, we decided to take the risk on this new school and enrolled our oldest son. It was well worth it, of course!”
Mrs. Calahan wanted to volunteer as much as possible, helping out in the office, providing after-school supervision, and being a team mom for sports. She was asked to help in the Athletic Department as a part-time secretary. During that time she was also hired as the girls head basketball coach, a position she took in 2001.
As if her life wasn’t busy enough, she was later hired as the full-time athletic director and part-time classroom teacher for eighth-grade English. She was able to do this with the help of Mr. Jonathan Lambros as assistant athletic director, and her daughter, Mrs. Amy Rust, as the athletic secretary. Mrs. Calahan held the two positions for six years until choosing to teach full-time in 2015.
It has been a hectic time for her, but she has loved every rewarding second of it. She explains, “It was a situation in which I morphed into my current role as a full-time English teacher, middle school humanities department chair, and head girls basketball coach. It certainly has been an enjoyable time and I have seen so many students graduate from Tempe Prep!”
That includes all four of her children. Dr. Joel Calahan graduated in 2001, Mr. Nate Calahan in 2003, Mrs. Amy Rust in 2006, and Miss Melissa Calahan in 2009. Three of the four have also worked or still work at Tempe Prep.
Mr. Nate Calahan has taught Latin and Humane Letters since 2009. He has also helped to coach high school basketball for seven years. Dr. Joel Calahan worked at Tempe Prep as a poetry teacher and a Humane Letters teacher from 2014-16. Mrs. Rust worked at Tempe Prep as the athletic trainer and athletic secretary from 2010-13.
“Working alongside my own children has been and continues to be one of the greatest joys of my life!” Mrs. Nancy Calahan says.
Mrs. Calahan’s favorite memory as a teacher, she says, “has to be all the great students I have taught in eighth grade and then seeing them grow up and graduate! It is always a great sense of accomplishment to know that you had a small part in their academic development.”
As a coach, her greatest memory is when the 2011-12 girls varsity basketball team won the Girls High School Division IV State Championship. “It was a lot of work but an incredible sense of accomplishment for the team and coaches,” she says. “I will never forget that moment!”
On a final note, Mrs. Calahan says, “Being involved in this school has been my life’s work. I have invested and sacrificed my own time and money to help make this school what it is today. I am proud to continue to be part of it. I am also glad my children had the chance to have such a wonderful fundamental education, and being a part of that for other students gives me great purpose every day.”
I think I can speak for the entire student body when I say that we are unconditionally grateful for the hard work that the dedicated Calahan family has given to our school. Thank you, Calahans!