Author Archives: Terry Lee Marzell

About Terry Lee Marzell

Terry Lee Marzell holds a bachelor's degree in English from Cal State Fullerton and a master's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Cal State San Bernardino. She also holds a certificate for Interior Design Level 1 from Mt. San Antonio College. She has been an educator in the Corona Norco Unified School District for more than 30 years.

Teacher and bullet-dodging journalist Esther Hansen Clark

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Elementary schoolteacher Esther Hansen Clark earned acclaim as a daredevil journalist, dodging bullets in Viet Nam. Photo credit: Skirting Traditions.

“In an era of afternoon ten-cent newspapers and all-male newsrooms, Esther Clark, a former elementary school teacher who years later would dodge bullets in Vietnam, established her credentials in Arizona as a versatile and fearless reporter.” So says biographer Carol Cain Hughes about Chalkboard Champion and journalist Esther Hansen Clark.

Esther Hansen was born on September 9, 1910, in Denver, Colorado. As a young girl, she attended Manual Training High School. Upon her graduation, she enrolled in Greeley College, where future teachers were trained. This institution is now known as the University of Northern Colorado. Once her education there was completed, Esther accepted a position an an elementary school teacher in southeastern Colorado. In 1936 Esther married Frank Clark, and nine years later the couple moved to Phoenix, Arizona.

In Phoenix, Esther became employed as a journalist for the Phoenix Gazette, a post she held for nearly 30 years. During her tenure there, she published news stories about current events in Arizona, including dispatches detailing the Civil Rights Freedom Concert, American Indian affairs, military news, and the conflict in the Middle East. “Some of her achievements read like daredevil stunts,” says Hughes. “She was the first newswoman to fly in a T-33, a B-47 Stratojet bomber, and an F-100 Super Sabre jet that cracked the sonic barrier.” Other difficult assignments included simulating bailing out of a jet at 43,000 feet and traveling to Panama with the US Army to participate in rigorous jungle warfare training. But it was her 1966 stint as one of the first women reporters embedded on the front lines in the war-torn jungles of Viet Nam that have earned her the greatest acclaim. For her pioneering work in the field of journalism, Esther was profiled by Time magazine. She also garnered the coveted Dickey Chapelle Award in 1941. She was recognized with the Marine Corps League Awards for Notable Contributions to the Marine Corps and the Nation in 1971. Actor John Wayne was similarly honored that year.

Esther retired from the Gazette in 1973, and in 1986 she returned to her home state of Colorado. She passed away on August 1, 1990, in Grand Junction, Colorado. She was 79 years old.

For more about this amazing educator and journalist, you can read Hughes’ more detailed account in Skirting Traditions: Arizona Women Writers and Journalists 1912-2012.

Nevada’s Nicolas Jacques earns 2019 Milliken Award

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Music educator Nicolas Jacques of Carson City, Nevada, finally received his 2019 Milliken Award last month. The bestowal of the award was delayed because of Covid-19. Photo credit: Nicolas Jacques.

For Nicolas Jacques, an outstanding music educator in Carson City, Nevada, long-overdue recognition has finally been awarded. Last month, he finally received the Milliken Award he had earned in 2019. The bestowal of the award has been delayed all this time because of Covid-19.

Nicolas teaches concert, marching, and jazz band. At the time he earned his award, he was employed at Carson Middle School. Currently he teaches at Carson High School. In all, his career as an educator in Carson City has spanned ten years.

The school’s jazz band, which was created by Nicolas in 2013, played annually at “Jazz in the Commons” and has performed at the Reno Jazz Festival and the Jazz in the Schools Clinic at University of Nevada in Reno. The concert bands routinely earn superior scores at the Washoe County and Northern Zone Band Festivals, and the groups have even performed at Disneyland. Students from Nicolas’s classes make up 60% of the Carson City Honor Band, and six of them were selected to play in the All-State Festival last year. In addition, Nicolas’s students excel in their academics, earning the highest scores at the school on statewide assessments.

An unhappy childhood led Nicolas to his career as an educator. “As an individual who was raised in an abusive and non-nurturing household, school was my safe place,” Nicolas reveals. “At school I had my friends, my teachers, my hobbies and a positive environment that kept me out of the house,” he continued. “My best class was band because it was something I enjoyed doing, I did it well, and it gave me a reason be away from home. It was a place where I could be myself, and I flourished,” he concluded.

In addition to his Milliken Award, Nicolas was a finalist for the Nevada Teacher of the Year honor in 2019. That same year he was recognized as the District Teacher of the Year. In addition, he was named a National Board Certified educator in 2018. He has also served as a Board Member of the Nevada Music Educators Association. Nicolas earned both his Bachelor’s degree and his Master’s degree at the University of Nevada, Reno.

To read more about Nicolas Jacques, see this article published by the Nevada Appeal.

Teachers lead students in Juneteenth celebration

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For the African American community, June 19 marks the annual observance of an important holiday: Juneteenth. Many teachers are aware of the significance of this event, and, if school for them is still in session, they may be planning an observance of the occasion with their students.

Juneteenth marks the 1865 arrival of Federal troops under the command of US General Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas. Their military mission was to take control of the state following the Civil War, and to ensure that all enslaved people living there had been freed. Until that day, 250,000 enslaved people in Texas were unaware that slavery had been declared officially ended. The troops’ arrival came a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

The year following Granger’s arrival, freedmen in Texas organized the first of what became the annual celebration of “Jubilee Day” on June 19. In the decades since, Juneteenth commemorations featured music, barbecues, prayer services, and other holiday activities. As Black people migrated from Texas to other parts of the country, the tradition of celebrating Juneteenth spread.

Juneteenth is considered the longest-running African American holiday in US history. In 1979, Texas became the first state to declare Juneteenth an official holiday. Efforts to make the celebration a national holiday have, so far, stalled in Congress, but as of this year, 47 states recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday.

Virginia’s Martha Forrester: Teacher and activist

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Martha Forrester

Teachers very often devote considerable talent and energy towards advancing social causes. One teacher in American history who did this is Martha Forrester, a classroom teacher and early Civil Rights activist.

The Civil War was in full swing in 1863 when Martha Forrester was born in Richmond, Virginia. When she grew up, she worked for several years as a public school teacher in Richmond.

Martha married Robert Forrester as a young woman, and after her husband passed away, she moved to Farmville, Virginia, to live with her daughter. There Martha was one of five founding members of retired educators who established the Council of Colored Women in 1920. She served as the president of that organization for over 30 years, endeavoring to better educational opportunities for African American students in Prince Edward County. “She felt the need that she wanted to improve the lives, you know, of African American children here in the form of education,” commented Beatrice White, a descendant of Martha Forrester. Martha was able to accomplish many improvements for the students she cared so much about, including  extending the school year and increasing access to higher-level classes. The Council also conducted tutoring, offered counseling, and organized blood mobiles to serve their community.

The former classroom teacher was also instrumental in founding the county’s first high school for African American students. Under her leadership, the Council raised $300,000 to buy a building and establish Robert Russa Moton High School, named in honor of a local educator. When the doors of the school opened in 1939, 450 students showed up for classes, although the facility was built for only 150. The school has since been turned into a museum.

This amazing Chalkboard Champion passed away in 1951. Her Farmville home was designated a historic site by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources in March, 2017. Read more about Martha Forrester in this article published by the Farmville Herald.