Going coed didn't just add students and more sections of existing classes at Gonzaga Prep. Adding girls made necessary the addition of Practical Arts curriculum, including cooking, sewing, typing, financial literacy, shorthand, and more. To meet this need, school president/principal, Fr. Bill Hayes, S.J., hired fresh-from-college teacher Claudia (Nelson) Couch to develop a menu of classes that would be useful not just to girls, but their male counterparts. Among Couch’s first students was Nancy Nizich-Andres ’79, an enthusiastic and earnest student who became her teaching assistant and whose friendship with Couch endures to this day. We sat down recently with Claudia and Nancy to talk about what it was like to be part of the new programs at Prep—programs that helped connect girls and boys and gave shape to the school’s coed reality.
Nancy on how she learned the Prep was adding girls:
What Claudia remembers about learning the school was going coed:
Claudia, on developing a Practical Arts curriculum:
Claudia explains how boys became interested in Practical Arts classes:
Nancy, on how the friendship began:
Claudia, on how the friendship began:
Claudia reflects on what makes Prep unique:
Nancy:
Nancy share what the spirit of the school felt like to her:
What stood out to Claudia:
A moment when becoming coed clicked:
Nancy, offers advice to Bullpups:
Nancy summarizes her family's experience of Prep: