Despite being initially reluctant to have her picture taken, Ms. Adamson seemed very natural in front of the camera. She’s a lively presence in the McCallum literary world, being a fantastic teacher and the head of the English department. She seems to be a motherly figure in many students lives, but not in a condescending way. She truly values the opinions of her students, and genuinely wants them to succeed. Photo and caption by Nadia Freeman.
Diana Adamson was born to two classically trained musicians and went to ballets and concerts all the time when she grew up, but she herself had inherited none of that particular talent.
Several years ago, a McCallum student created a chalk masterpiece. It’s been there since then. Ms. Adamson pushes her students to reach their full potential. She’s strict,but not to the point where she is disliked by students. When I asked about the mural, Ms. Adamson said: “I like that murand al because the fact that it’s still up there after all this time shows the respect that McCallum students have for each other’s art.” Photo by Nadia Freeman.
No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t find something she was good at in the music industry. But that was OK, her parents were supportive of her choices, and when Adamson said she wanted to become a dental assistant in college, they supported her decision.
She enjoyed her job as a dental assistant, but she felt that there was something more she could be doing with her time, so she quit that job and started training to become a teacher, and ever since then it’s all she’s done and all she wants to do.
Adamson has two children, Dakota who is 19, and Olivia who is 21. Their relationship is wonderful, although they do get angry sometimes and fuss at each other.
Adamson enjoys her job and treats her students with the respect that they earn, doing her best to teach the next generation of kids about literature and to realize the truth of our world.
My favorite thing about Ms. Adamson is how thoughtful she is. She is very invested in her profession, and you can tell that she cares. Her class has been one of the best of my McCallum experiences. I’ve always loved English, but her class has helped me explore my skills in expository writing. A couple classes ago she said: “Y’all have no idea how carefully I craft my lessons.” You can tell that she has faith in what her students can accomplish. Photo and caption by Nadia Freeman.
![This is Paul Pew's high school graduation photo. The 2023-2024 school year marked his 34th year of teaching. He began his career in Washington, then came to McCallum where he has taught for the past 17. At heart though, he’s really a musician. One that grew up in many different places, including Chicago and California, who took interest in teaching from a young age. His high school choir experience, along with some international singing in college, persuaded him that teaching was his path. He knew he wanted to be able to help create works of art in the fine arts department as well, so he joined McCallum. He’s worked on many of the musicals over the years, even before Joshua Denning, the former theatre director of the fine arts program arrived. Before him was a different director: Tatum.
“I was the music director for all the musicals,” Pew said. “[Mr. Tatum and I] worked very hard, and I just got to the point where I was satisfied with it.” Although he may not be as prominent of a member in the musical theatre community at McCallum anymore, he still plays piano. “I still do a lot of music down at the Music end of the building,” Pew said. Photo courtesy of Paul Pew.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Paul-Pew-1974-888x1200.jpg)
![Senior Sebastian Banks performs a solo and his final chamber guitar concert on May 16 in the MAC. "l’d like to join some kind of music group [at St. Ed’s] because I think that’d be really fun," Banks said of his plans to play guitar while in college. "They don’t have classical guitar specifically, which is what I play, but I’ll just have to see."](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/53728055720_aaac0d90f9_o-1200x688.jpg)