Joining Parker’s roster of cross-divisional PE teachers is Madeline Maldonado, filling the vacancy left by former PE teacher Pat Pagunucco.

Maldonado was born and raised in Chicago where she attended and graduated from Lane Tech high school. Throughout her young years and into high school Maldonado enjoyed playing various sports, including basketball, baseball, and softball. 

“I have grown up playing sports my whole life. My family’s really into playing sports. So I was born and raised in that kind of community,” Maldonado said. “In high school I decided that softball was my favorite. I loved it. I was really good at it. So I wanted to go and play in college.” 

After Lane Tech, Maldonado attended Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where she played Division Three softball for four years. Maldonado graduated from Kenyon with a B.A. in psychology and in Spanish.

It was through a program at Kenyon College that Maldonado found her love for working with students. “Kenyon, while it’s a really great school in the middle of nowhere in Ohio, it’s in the poorest county in Ohio. And it happens to be a very white community.” Maldonado said. “And so for one of my classes, we had a community engagement component, and for the whole year we would actually go into a school in the county.”

In a freshman English class, Maldonado formed a connection. “There was a turning point for me. There was one girl of color there. And she was a Mexican girl. And her parents had just migrated from Mexico to Ohio. We built a connection, I definitely felt a sort of mentorship with her.”

Maldonado, who is fluent in Spanish, helped the girl improve her English abilities, make friends, and navigate high school in America. “It just felt really good to be able to offer that to her,” Maldonado said.

After graduating from Kenyon College, Maldonado moved to Washington, D.C. and began working at Maret Independent School, where she was a physical education teacher for students K-12, as well as head softball coach for Maret’s varsity team.

In July of this year Maldonado moved back to Chicago after three years in D.C. “Washington D.C. is a beautiful city but right before the pandemic, I had started already thinking that maybe I want to move back to Chicago,” Maldonado said. “My entire family’s here in Chicago, extended and immediate.”

Maldonado, a first generation college student, said she “was the first one to leave Chicago, but FOMO really sets in,” Maldonado said. “After a while, I was like, ‘Chicago is where I want to make my life and kind of be for the long term’.”

After leaving her previous job and moving to Chicago, Maldonado began searching for a new job and came across an opening at Parker for a P.E. teacher, a spot left by the retirement of former P.E. teacher Pat Pagnucco, who retired at the end of last year.

Maldonado was drawn to Parker thanks to its similarity to her previous school. “I found many similarities between Parker’s ideology surrounding social issues, but also surrounding how to teach students and the pedagogy,” Maldonado said.

PE Teacher Kara Turpin says she is looking forward to Maldonado joining the PE department thanks to her unique perspective and experiences. “I love her contagious energy and look forward to the new, fresh, and innovative ideas she is going to bring to the Parker curriculum,” Turpin said.

This coming year Maldonado will be teaching JK-8 except for 5th and 8th grades, as well as badminton and court sports in the Upper School. Maldonado also hopes to be involved with extracurricular activities.

Maldonado, who is fluent in Spanish and had a “Concentration in Latinx Studies” in college, is “interested in connecting somehow with the DEI situation at Parker within the faculty, but also among students,” Maldonado said. “I think focusing on DEI work within schools is important, I would love to be a part of that effort at Parker.

Maldonaldo will also likely work with Parker’s softball teams. “At my last school, I was the head varsity softball coach. I loved that, it was a really cool part of my job, because that’s when I was really able to connect with the high school students,” Maldonado said. “I would love to be a part of the softball program.”

Maldonado says she has spoken with Parker Director of Athletics Bobby Starks and is currently discussing details.