This week’s spotlight is on Goshen High School Art Teacher Chrissy Pahucki, an educator who has been with the district since 2002.
The artist started her career at Pine Bush Elementary and High School, and then at Poughkeepsie Elementary School before joining the Goshen Central School District 11 years ago.
Pahucki received an associate’s degree from SUNY Orange, a bachelor’s degree in Art Education from SUNY Buffalo, and a master’s degree in Art Education from SUNY New Paltz.
She was excited to work in Goshen, she said, because she graduated from GHS as a member of the Class of 1993. Her mother and grandfather also graduated from the high school.
“I met my future husband in 7th grade French class and we went to the prom together,” said Pahucki.
Pahucki’s goals for the year are to increase the high school’s art course offerings for students, and to ensure they have the supplies, technology and knowledge to succeed after high school.
She said is most looking forward to this year’s Art Road Trip.
“We had a blast last year and we’ll be hard at work planning for next spring,” said Pahucki.
Outside work, the art educator is a professional plein air painter, an artist who paints on location.
“I travel around the country competing in plein air festivals during the summer,” she said. “I’ve been fortunate to get into some of the most prestigious competitions in the country, such as Plein Air Easton in Maryland, Telluride Plein Air in Colorado, and Santa Fe Plein Air in New Mexico.”
She is also a history buff and amateur archaeologist, currently hooked on Orange County’s history before the Revolutionary War.
“I spend many evenings and weekends metal-detecting for historical artifacts,” Pahucki said.
BONUS FACT: If Pahucki could meet anyone from history, she said, “I’d really like to meet Richard Gardiner, an English surveyor and General circa 1756, and just ask him if the foundation I’ve been studying is the remains of his fort. I’d like to get him to explain how it was used, and what Orange County looked like in the 1750s.”
Thank you so much for everything you do, Chrissy Pahucki! We appreciate you!