Ms. Maria Waltner

I grew up on the west side of Cincinnati and attended Our Lady of Victory grade school before going on to Seton High School.  I attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio with the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism where I majored in Magazine Journalism with a minor in Linguistics. I also attained a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Certification which I used when I spent 3 months in China with the OU Journalism program.  

After college I spent time searching for a journalism job while helping out my dad part-time at his computer company.  Part-time became full-time and I worked my way up from secretary to Purchasing Manager and then spent some time in Sales.  It was there that I learned how to diagnose and fix computer issues.  I also spent a lot of time helping people to understand computers: why they did the things that they did and how to get around the problem or fix it.  I spent a lot of time working with the tech coordinators of various schools in the tri-state and that was what led me to Our Lady of Grace.  

Moving to a school environment from a business one was a huge leap but I don't regret taking the plunge. Working with the students and other teachers is vastly rewarding and I absolutely love seeing the kids learn to navigate a new program effectively.  I feel really successful as a teacher when I hear one child coaching another with words I have used.  Hearing a little voice ask, "Well, are your headphone plugged in? That could be it" just makes my day.  I'm positive when we get to the point where the kids are asking if you've tried turning it off and on again I'll being doing a happy dance.