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Mark L. Hummer was born in Denver, Colorado in January of 1960. Shortly thereafter, his parents moved to Tucson, Arizona where he attended Shumaker Elementary School. In 1971, his family moved to Fort Worth, Texas where they still reside.
As a life-long learner, Mr. Hummer earned his first degree in Theatre and Speech Communication from Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa. He later followed that up with a Masters in Drama from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas where he was named “Outstanding Graduate Student in Drama” both years of his attendance. The highlight of the experience, though, was being asked to direct a main-stage production of John Guare’s “House of Blue Leaves” along with the other faculty directed plays of the 1988-89 season.
As a young adult, Mr. Hummer was a hard worker, working at least two or three jobs at a time as a substitute teacher, a baker’s assistant/cake decorator, assistant building manager for Orchestra Hall in Ft. Worth, a tutor, and an adult education instructor for the Lamar Community College. Still during this time, he was able to work semi-professionally as a stage director for the Arlington Opera Company in Texas and for several venues in Southern Colorado.
Upon moving to California, Mr. Hummer decided to make teaching his full time career and so became an LAUSD intern and was hired at Micheltorena Street School in September of 1997. Upon completing the program, he received the “Golden Apple Award” for “ . . . exemplary participation . . . and modeling of the highest professional teaching standards.”
After several years as a full-time educator, Mr. Hummer decided to pursue another master’s degree, this time in Educational Leadership & Policy Studies at California State University at Northridge. Because of his fairly decent grade-point average (4.0,) he was invited to join the honor society/ professional organization Pi Lambda Theta and was among the first group to be initiated at CSUN under their new direct honors program. He then became the founding president of both the Delta Kappa campus chapter and the Northridge Area alumni chapter of PLT at CSUN. Mr. Hummer was also elected to serve as a vice-president on the International Governing Board of PLT. He currently chairs the international PLT Student Support Scholarship Committee.
Mr. Hummer also enjoys being active in the community. He is on the board of directors of the Silver Lake Improvement Association. His absolute favorite SLIA activity is “The Music Box Steps Day” held annually in October and which provides a fine afternoon of entertainment for many Micheltorena families. He also was invited to speak at the 75th Birthday celebration of the Griffith Park Observatory in May of 2010 regarding the Friends of the Observatory program that provides buses for fifth grade field trips to the observatory. He has since become a member of FOTO himself and appreciates being able to attend many of their interesting and educational events.
His avocations include going to the theatre, dining with friends, reading, or simply proving to be a consummate couch potato.