• Skip to main content
District Home

2-Day Cycle Thursday Day 2

eagle head logo

Exeter Township Junior High

Grades 7-8 | 610-779-3320

Search
Close
  • Schools
    • Exeter Township Senior High
    • Exeter Township Junior High
    • Reiffton School
    • Jacksonwald Elementary
    • Lorane Elementary
    • Owatin Creek Elementary
    • Exeter Cyber Academy
  • About Us
    • Principal’s Welcome
  • Academics
    • Curriculum Overview
      • 7th Grade
      • 8th Grade
    • Departments
      • Art
      • Computer Applications
      • English & Reading
      • Fitness & Wellness
      • Mathematics
      • Music
      • Science
      • Social Studies
      • Student Support & Special Education
      • Technology Education
      • World Languages
    • Grades & Honors
    • Library
    • PSSA Testing
    • Soaring Eagle Handbook
  • Athletics
  • Students & Parents
    • ABEx
    • Attendance
    • Bell Schedule
    • Clubs & Organizations
    • Code of Conduct
    • Commuter & Busing Information
    • E-Funds
    • Flexible Instruction Day (FID)
    • Food Services
    • Forms
    • Health Services
    • Music
    • ParentSquare
    • Safe2Say Tipline
    • Schoology
    • Skyward
    • Student Handbook
  • Counseling
    • Counseling
    • Student Assistance Program (SAP)
  • News & Calendars
    • News
    • Calendars & Events
    • The Exeter Express – Student Newspaper
Directory

Exeter Township Junior High

151 East 39th Street | Reading, PA 19606
(610) 779-3320

Click Here For A Searchable Directory
  • Office

    x3004 Alex Brown, Principal
    x3003 Jennifer Cooke, Assistant Principal
    x3001 Nancy Barrasso, Attendance Secretary
    x3002 Patti Suruskie, Secretary

  • Counseling & Guidance

    x3015 Autumn Rheaume, Counselor A-L
    x3014 Kimberly Shaw, Counselor M-Z
    x3012 Shannon Buser, Secretary

  • Nurse

    x3016 Kathy Blume

  • Psychologist

    x3010 Chad Rutherford

  • Technology Support

    x3209 CaroleMcGarry

Note: Faculty phone numbers go to voice mail during school hours

  • Art

    x3108 Kimberly Lopez
    x3107 Colin Temple

  • Computer Applications

    x3116 Kevin Adams

  • English & Reading

    x3104 Hillary Arndt
    x3103 Sophie Cannon
    x3211 Megan Heller
    x3114 Heather Kelly
    x3105 Cheryl Larson
    x3106 Alison Patton
    x3219 Nina Reynolds
    x3102 Stephanie Walters

  • Fitness & Wellness

    x3127
    x3126 Shannon Schmidt

  • Librarian

    x3008 Kate Sowers

  • Mathematics

    x3112 Kelvin Altemose
    x3303 Laura DeLong
    x3301 Scott Haag
    x3305 Sara Prout
    x3306 Jayme Raffauf
    x3302 Shawn Seidel
    x3304 Kathy Topper

  • Music

    x3122 Micah Albrycht
    x3123 Melissa Crotty
    x3221 Kyle Luckenbill

  • Science

    x3205 Brenda Brenner
    x3207 Gretchen Hess
    x3208 Nicole Keen
    x3204 Michelle Obst
    x3203 Tracy Powell
    x3206 Darryl Schucker

  • Social Studies

    x3226 Dena Burkhart
    x3202 Brad Galuska
    x3218 Cynthia Jurasinski-Boyer
    x3201 Janine Lucas
    x3227 Mike Noecker

  • Special Education

    x3210 Abigail Elsavage, Learning Support
    x3017, Stephanie Isselmann, Gifted
    x3215 Kaitlyn Kontopodias, Learning Support
    x3216 Amy Lubenow, Emotional Support
    x3113 Alyssa Raab, Life Skills
    x3101 Michelle Raccuglia, Learning Support
    x3220 Erin Schermerhorn, Learning Support
    x3117 Robyn Shaffer, Autistic Support

  • Technology Education

    x3206 Darryl Schucker
    x3111 Zachary Schools
    x3224 Jason Zalno

  • Therapist

    x3217 Kristin Swartley, Speech Therapist

  • World Languages

    x3212 Nichole Mandel, Spanish,
    x3219 Nina Reynolds, French
    x3104 Carolyn Woodford, German

Home » History Teachers Have Their Own History in Exeter

the burkhart family stands above the stadium

Matt & Dena Burkhart stand with their children, Cole, Ava and Logan, above Don Thomas Stadium at the Exeter Township Senior High school. 

couple stands in front of lockers

Matt & Dena Burkhart stand by the lockers where they initially met at the Junior High. 

In the fall of 1995 at Exeter Township Junior High, seventh graders Matthew Burkhart and Dena Caldwell met on the first day of school when their alphabetically-ordered last names caused their lockers to be placed opportunely next to each other. Over the course of the next few days, a young Matt and Dena became friends. And soon afterwards, a couple. And despite the lack of longevity in young romances, Matt and Dena defied all odds as they continued to date through junior high, and then high school. By the time they reached their senior year, they were selected to be on prom court together, and their classmates bestowed the adorable title of “cutest couple” to them in their yearbook (incidentally, it’s a title that we’re sure they’d still earn today). 

After their 2001 graduation from Exeter, Matt chose to pursue a baseball scholarship at Tusculum University in Tennessee. Dena stayed closer to home to study at Lebanon Valley College. After a year, Matt decided to move closer to home to study education and play baseball at DeSales University. As Dena was finishing up her post-baccalaureate work and student teaching, Matt proposed, presenting Dena with a ring and a desk plaque that said “Mrs. Burkhart” that still sits on the corner of her desk today. They married a year and a half later.

Today, 28 years after the day they met in the hallway of Exeter Township Junior High, it seems no accident that Matt and Dena both love to teach history. After all, they share so much of it together in the same buildings and the same classrooms where they now inspire the next generation of Eagles. The Exeter community is so much a part of their love story, too: Despite initially getting teaching jobs in other districts, both Matt and Dena jumped on teaching opportunities to return to Exeter where they once met and dated. And despite buying their “forever” home in Douglassville, Dena says that when it came time for her three kids–Ava (grade 6), Logan (grade 4) and Cole (kindergarten)–to attend school, she couldn’t envision them not attending the same schools where their young relationship first began. “Matt looked at me one night in our old house and was like, ‘We can stay in Daniel Boone, or you can put a for sale sign out.’ So we put our house on the market and sold it in six days and moved to Exeter.”

Dena continues, “There are just so many opportunities here in Exeter that we couldn’t imagine not raising our kids here. The teachers that are here–yes, we know them since we work with them–but we see that dedication and the special connections they have with students and we know they'll go that extra distance for students here. It’s the extracurricular clubs, the sports, the educational opportunities such as AP and Honors programs… What we have here and what opportunities we had ourselves as kids was a huge reason we decided we wanted to raise our family here,” she says. “We love Exeter–we really do.”

Exeter Township Junior High School

jh

Address & Contact Info

  • 151 East 39th Street
    Reading, PA 19606

  • District Phone:
    610-779-3320

  • Fax:
    610-249-0171

Follow us on social media

Our Schools

Exeter Township Senior High

Exeter Township Junior High

Reiffton School

Jacksonwald Elementary

Lorane Elementary

Owatin Creek Elementary