Nancy Benfer ’04 (center), Bishop Dunn Memorial School principal and Mount Saint Mary College adjunct, recently earned the 2023 Educational Leadership Award from the Mid-Hudson School Study Council.
Bishop Dunn Memorial School (BDMS) principal and Mount Saint Mary College alumna Nancy Benfer ’04 was recently honored by the Mid-Hudson School Study Council (MHSSC) with the 2023 Educational Leadership Award.
Benfer began her tenure at Bishop Dunn 20 years ago as a teaching assistant. She went on to teach fourth grade for several years and was named principal of the school in 2017, a role she continues to thrive in to this day. She also serves as an adjunct professor of education at Mount.
“As a principal, my role has fostered an environment encouraging collaboration, creativity, curiosity, and growth,” said Benfer. “I was excited to receive the correspondence from MHSSC informing me of the recognition of a leadership award. This honor was not solely a reflection of my accomplishments, but a testament to the incredible team of teachers and staff at BDMS. Their unwavering dedication, passion, and commitment to our students have driven our collective success. I wake up and thank God for the blessings of my family and health. I witnessed the extraordinary impact my mantra of ‘Make good choices and choose kindness first’ has on the people around me.”
Bishop Dunn, on the Mount campus, was founded in 1883. The school is committed to the academic, spiritual, emotional, social, and physical development of children, pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Mount Education students do fieldwork at the school, under the guidance of seasoned Bishop Dunn faculty.
In addition to Benfer, Mount alumna Deborah Calvino ’81, was also honored by the MHSSC with an award for Educational Excellence. Calvino was named New York State Teacher of the year in 2010. She began her teaching career as a high school special education teacher in 1981 and spent several decades teaching high school mathematics, beginning in 1984. She was appointed Mathematics Department Supervisor in the Valley Central School District in 2004.
MHSSC is a non-profit organization whose fundamental purpose is to bring about the improvement of education in its member school districts in the Mid-Hudson Valley. It accomplishes that purpose through the cooperative study of common educational problems, the effective diffusion of educational practices, and the stimulation of active participation of school boards, administrators, teachers, pupils, and laypersons in educational planning and activity.