Shoe City Lions honor women of the year

LYNN-The ladies of the Shoe City Lions Club will honor two longtime Lynn educators this year at the 12th annual Women of the Year Awards night June 11.This year’s honorees are Sister Theresa Pond, director of the Alumni/Development office at Sacred Heart School, and Lynn Public Schools Executive Director of Special Education Cheryl Menino. Both are being honored for their dedication to the Lynn community and love for helping the city’s youth succeed.Each will be toasted by friends and colleagues and receive awards from the Shoe City Lions at the event.A lifelong resident of Lynn, the 81-year-old Pond has been a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Archdiocese of Boston for 62 years, and a member of the Sacred Heard School family for the past 31 years.Following her graduation from St. Mary’s Grammar and Girl’s High School in 1945, Pond entered the Novitiate of the Sisters of St. Joseph, focusing on education.She taught at Catholic schools in Framingham, Norwood, Bradford, Alston and Dorchester before returning to Lynn in the 1960s to help her mother care for her ailing father.Pond taught grades seven and eight at Sacred Heart for 28 years before she was assigned to the alumni development office three years ago. She works hard to stay in contact with her former students through email and phone calls, and enjoys seeing the grandchildren of her former students now coming through the school – a sign she says that Sacred Heart will continue to flourish and that the alumni remains a strong part of the program.Menino, also a graduate of St. Mary’s High School, has been working with special needs children since graduating from Framingham State College in 1978.She spent the first 15 years of her career at the Cardinal Cushing School and Training Center in Hanover, where she was a teacher, assistant principal and director of student services.She earned a masters degree from the University of South Florida in 1985, and later her doctorate from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.Since that time she has worked in the Saugus Public Schools, Essex Agricultural and Technical High School and now works as executive director of Special Education in Lynn.At her current position, Menino oversees the day-to-day department operations, supervising staff, provides ongoing support and resources for the design and implementation of specialized programs and prepares and monitors the budget and federal grants.Along with her work in the public schools, Menino serves as a senior adjunct faculty member for the graduate school of special education program at Cambridge College and a member of the Board of Directors of the Variety Children’s Charity of New England, a nonprofit charity associated with the entertainment industry and the Jimmy Fund.Reservations for the June 11 event are required and should be paid in advance by mailing a $35 check for each attendee to Jeannine Gentleman, 3 Princeton St., Peabody or by calling Donna Hartshorn at 781-599-1385.The event will take place at the Garden Terrace Room at the Danversport Yacht Club beginning at 6 p.m.The Shoe City Lions are also looking for advertisers for the souvenir program booklet. For details contact Hartshorn. Deadline for advertisers is May 29.