Justice for Mrs.Pedersen

I was in Medical Health Academy for three years and learned so many invaluable lessons from Mrs. Pedersen. She truly cares about her students and makes it a priority to help them in any way she can. I have seen her first-hand go through tedious efforts to find internships for all of her senior students, prepare material in a manner that all students can understand, and create opportunities for students to have unique learning experiences. If it were not for MHA, I would not have the experience that was vital to my university acceptance. I will be graduating Fall 2019 and receiving my Bachelor’s in Communicative Disorders in hopes of becoming a Speech-Language Pathologist. Mrs. Pedersen is the backbone of MHA and has encouraged every student to find their passion and become the best you can be. She has played an important role in my educational journey and many other students. Mrs. Pedersen has dedicated a myriad of her time to curating a perfect program. As a previous TA of hers, I have seen the passion and love she has for this program. I hope you will reconsider your decision, as she has the opportunity to inspire students just like us to become professionals in the health field for just one more year.

Graduated class of 2015 and I am now graduating Cal State Fullerton with a major in Speech Language Pathology. Ms. Pedersen and her loyalty to the program and her students was extremely influential in my educational endeavors. Making her teach PE would be a BIG mistake.

MHA Alumni Class of 2015

I quite like her very punctual and sweet. She gives great advice and perspective and places urgency on certain things that are very beneficial to a student soon to become a functioning adult.

It is very unfortunate and as a parent of a student in academy. This will not be tolerated. All students have worked so hard and she has served as an awesome mentor to all students.

I am Loren White from the graduating class of 2015. Ms. Pedersen is an exceptional teacher who cares about her students and the Medical Health Academy. I joined MHA in my sophomore year of high school and stayed in it until I graduated. If it weren’t for Ms. Pedersen or MHA, I would not have attended a four-year university straight out of high school. I am now graduating this May with my bachelors in hopes of becoming a nurse. After I graduated from high school, I kept in contact with Ms. Pedersen, and she helped me obtain a summer internship in my sophomore year of college with a physical therapist office. She did not have to help me and I know many teachers would not have, but she went above and beyond for me. She has been in charge of MHA for years, and she is more than quailed to run this program. We should all experience a teacher like Ms. Pedersen. She is compassionate, encouraging, and inspiring. I hope you consider this before switching Ms. Pedersen to a physical education teacher, especially one year from retirement.

In 2013, I graduated with 3 years In MHA. I was registered to take the IB route originally, however my twin sister and I both were interested in the medical field. I decided to go the MHA route and couldn’t have been happier. The way Pedersen has things set up, are for good reason. I was given a great physical therapy site, she pushed every student to do their best, to do the right thing, it became a great habit. While having Pedersen as a teacher, I believe our class in itself was one one of the most well behaved & successful classes as a whole. I was very proud to have her as my teacher. She was an amazing role model, a mother we all had at school. Learning about the medical field is a hard subject, she knew how to make it fun. When I graduated, my site hired me and I spent a total of 3.5 years. The owners and I keep in contact to this day and I couldn’t imagine where I would be if it were not for her lectures, guidance, and exploration throughout the 3 years of being in the program. When you think MHA, you think of Pedersen.

As a LQHS alumni, I was very disappointed to hear that Mrs. Pedersen was being removed from her position as the head of the MHA program. She is with out a doubt the only person in the valley who is actually qualified to run a program like this one. To remove her from the program she started almost 20 year ago on the basis that administration wants to “head in a different direction” is complete nonsense. This program would be nothing with out Pedersen, who hash put an immeasurable amount of hours into making sure that the program is able to operate at its full potential. Not only has she worked to make sure that the program is the best it could be, but she also has helped many of the student in the program better themselves as well. She was the person who not only helped me to become a certified lifeguard, but also gave me an idea of what I want to pursue in life. If the school really wants to take the program in a different direction then they can wait until next year when she retires. It would be the least they can do for a lady who has put so much time and effort into a program that has made the school itself more desirable to newer students.

MHA Alumni

Ms. Pedersen is such an incredible teacher. She is so passionate and cares that each one of her students succeeds. I had a lot of obstacles in high school and without the medical health academy and the inspiration and help of Ms. Pedersen I don’t know that I would have graduated on time. She teaches real life skills that are applicable in more then just the medical field. Medical Health Academy is such an amazing program that really gets you college ready and I can’t imagine anyone other then Ms. Pedersen directing it. She deserves to finish what she started.

It is extremely saddening to hear how wrong the administration of La Quinta High School has done Mrs. Pedersen. She has done nothing but tremendous things for the students of La Quinta High School. She has gone above and beyond to inspire and prepare her students for the real world. Without the help of Mrs. Pedersen I would not have been able to obtain an internship at such a young age, been CPR/ AED certified, been First Aid certified, and most importantly would not have gone straight to a four year university without the help of her. What the administration of La Quinta High School is doing is extremely wrong and I do not stand by it nor support it.

She is a very organized teacher that knows what she's doing!

I thought it was just Armstrong, but now it’s more damage...

I believe that the only person in the Coachella Valley that is qualified to run the La Quinta High School Medical Health Academy program would be none other than Mrs. Pedersen. I graduated from LQHS a few years ago and am halfway through my undergraduate career and if I am, to be honest, the most valuable classes that I took as a high school student were the three consecutive years of MHA under Mrs. Pedersen. Throughout high school, you hear that classes taken are preparing you for college and for the future but they are mostly false claims. While in MHA I had many opportunities that I would have not had if I did not enter the program. At the end of my senior year I was able to be certified in CPR and AED, BLS (basic life support) and CERT (community emergency response team), but most importantly I was placed in an internship site where I was able to collect over 400 hours of experience that would truly help me on my future path. Mrs. Pedersen has built the MHA program from almost nothing and it would be irresponsible to remove her from her position as coordinator. I do think that it is fair if she is allowed to stay for her last planned year as coordinator as it would give her a well-deserved and respectful ending to her contribution towards the LQHS MHA program. It would also giver her time to inform all of the internship and job shadow sites that she has built connections with so that future student may have the same opportunities that I was able to have.

SHE IS MHA

I recently graduated from LQHS as a honors student and a MHA alumni. Mrs. Pedersen has always been caring, sincere and professional as a teacher and as the director of MHA. She has built MHA from the ground up and has made La Quinta High School's health academy the leading standard for other health academies in the Coachella Valley. So I don't understand why administration would pull Mrs. Pedersen from her position as a director of MHA and place her as a PE teacher. Especially, the last year before her retirement.

Medical health Academy wouldn’t be the way it is today without Mrs. Pedersen. She has put her heart and time into this academy. She’s put way too much work just to be treated like this.

Ms. Pedersen has made a really big impact for the medical health academy at LQHS. She works way to hard to be removed from this academy after all the hard work she put in for the past 19 years. This academy will be nothing if it weren’t for her. She deserves to end her teaching career as the head of MHA.

SHE DESERVES THIS, SHE PUTS HER BLOOD, SWEAT, AND TEARS INTO THE ACADEMY. SHE DOES SO MUCH FOR US AND FOR THE SCHOOL, the least the school could do is let her run it one last year before she’s hands it off to someone else.

Let her keep her passion