The staff writers visit Mrs. Utz

Always a Porter: Susan Park Utz

Andrew Campbell '24 & Nate Stevenson '24

While there may be new clubs arising and building additions on the way, Greenport is still the same small school at heart. Even though the village’s landscape has changed into one of tourism, the locals still enjoy Friday night football games and other activities that have been going on at the school for almost a century. In order to get the best idea of how the school was many years ago, we interviewed Ms. Susan Park-Utz, a graduate of Greenport School in the class of 1960. In preparation for this meeting, we scoured the yearbooks and found many interesting clubs and other activities to discuss.

When recalling the beginning of her scholastic journey, Ms. Park mentioned that she had attended a school in East Marion school for elementary. This school was unfamiliar to the interviewers; Ms. Park described it as a one-room schoolhouse that she attended up until 6th grade. This schoolhouse is now gone and students who live in East Marion attend Oysterponds Elementary School. This came in part due to the construction of Oysterponds in 1966 in order to accommodate the growing number of families moving to eastern Long Island.

Once Ms. Park entered into high school she joined numerous clubs. Interestingly, a number of these clubs do not exist anymore. For example, Ms. Park discussed her time as a member of the majorette club, a group of girls that would practice cheering and spinning batons. She mentioned that it was one of her most fond memories, a student-led program that saw success. She was also a member of the Oysterette journalism club, which is now called The Quill. 

Just as it is today, class ranking was competitive. Ms. Park, despite her involvement in many extracurriculars, was ranked very highly in her class. The subject that she found easiest for  her was math. All of the math classes offered at Greenport were taught by the sole teacher in the math department, Mr. Egert. According to Ms. Park, Mr. Egert was a well-loved math teacher who was very strict with his writing and stubborn in his teaching style. One of her greatest memories with Mr. Egert was when the school purchased brand new math textbooks. When they arrived, Mr. Egert told the class that even though the administration had given the math class new books, they wouldn’t be using them. He believed that his teaching style was more effective than anything those textbooks could offer. 

Fridays in the Fall are a magical time for the Greenport community since many come out and watch the Porters football games. We asked Ms. Park if that had always been the case and she said that they always brought the community together, especially back in the 1950s. When she was in high school, Porter’s football, coached by Dory Jackson, had many very strong seasons with sometimes only one loss a year. After the games, Ms. Park discussed how the streets would be filled with students. All of the children would walk to downtown Greenport where Paradise Sweets (currently known as The Frisky Oyster) was. They would all gather around and eat ice cream while celebrating the win. This sense of community is still prevalent today. While in many ways Greenport has changed as a town, shifting towards tourism, the school and community has stayed the same. 

Ms. Park would like us all to always remember to be kind and compassionate. The effects of a simple smile can radiate throughout a person's life.