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.

Bill Fink: Educator, debate coach, and Iowa State Senator

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William (Bill) Fink, retired high school social studies teacher and former Iowa State Senator.

Many superb educators also become excellent politicians. One of these is Bill Fink, a high school social studies teacher who also served as a state senator for Iowa.

Bill was born on May 5, 1955. He was raised in Ringsted, Iowa. Following his high school graduation from Ringsted High School in 1973, he enrolled in Iowa State University. There he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and his teaching certificate in 1977. He earned his Master’s degree in Education from Drake University in 1984.

Following his college graduation, Bill accepted a position teaching social studies at Carlisle High School. He also coached the school’s debate team. During these years, he was instrumental in founding the Iowa Debate League, which still exists.

In 1992, Bill was elected on the Democratic ticket to represent the 45th District in the Iowa State Senate. He left the classroom to devote his energy to the legislature full-time. Bill spent a total of ten years in office. While in the legislature, he spent four years as the chair of the Natural Resources Committee. In this role, he was instrumental in establishing clean energy sources throughout his state. For his efforts, Bill garnered a prestigious legislative honor when he was named a BILLD Fellow. He was even invited to the White House in 1995.

In 2001, Bill criticized an attempt by the Iowa State Legislature to make Iowa the first state in the country to base its salaries for public school teachers on their performance in the classroom. Bill called the proposal “…tragic and misdirected.” He felt that teachers had been allowed too little input on the proposal.

Following his career as senator, Bill returned to the classroom at the high school level, where he taught government and economics. He served as a well-respected educator for the next three decades.

During his career, Bill joined many community organizations. He was a member of the Carlisle Community Education Association, the Polk Suburban Uniserve Unit, the Iowa State Education Association, the National Education Association, and the Iowa State University Alumni Association.

Bill’s 36-year career as an educator came to a conclusion in 2015 when he retired. The veteran educator left with sage advice for those who are new to the profession. His best advice, he says, is to know what you’re teaching. “New teachers will learn more by teaching than they ever will by being a student,” Bill asserts. “If you really want to learn something, teach it. If you do that well, you expand beyond just a text book. You expand beyond your own knowledge and that broadens your horizons,” he says.

To read more about Bill Fink, click on this link from the Des Moines Register.

San Antonio’s Greco, McEwen selected 2019 Teachers of the Year

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Here is a four-minute YouTube video which celebrates the work of two amazing educators in San Antonio, Texas. The first is Lacy Greco, a fourth grade teacher at Benjamin Franklin Elementary School. The second is Krystal McEwen, a Special Education teacher at Bonnie Ellison Elementary School. Both  exceptional educators were honored as 2019 Elementary Teachers of the Year  for Northside Independent School District located in Leon Valley, a suburb of San Antonio, Texas.

School teacher and suffragist Emily Burton Ketcham

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Teacher and suffragist Emily Burton Ketcham. Photo credit: Grand Rapids History and Special Collections (GRHSC), Archives, GRPL, GR, Michigan.

Dedicated educators often become involved in movements that benefit society as a whole. One of these is Emily Burton Ketcham, a school teacher who was active in the struggle to secure the right to vote for women.

Emily was born on July 16, 1838, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her parents were Josiah and Eliza (Freeman) Burton. As a young girl, Emily attended first Mary B. Allen’s School for Girls and then Henrietta Academy. She earned her degree from St. Mark’s College, a private theological institution located in Grand Rapids. When she was only 15 years old, Emily became a school teacher.

Emily’s work in the suffrage movement began in 1873. She became active in the initial effort to remove gender as a qualification for voting in Michigan. Later, Emily met with suffragist movement leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, and by the 1890’s had developed long-lasting professional relationships with them.

Emily was heavily involved in many community improvement groups. She was a member of the Grand Rapids Woman’s Suffrage Association, the Political Equality Club, the Susan B. Anthony Club, the Woman’s Civic League, and the Woman’s and Children’s Protective League. She was a charter member of the Michigan Equal Suffrage Association, she would serve as its president from 1892-1893, and again in 1900.

As part of her work as a suffragist, Emily was a featured speaker at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Due to Emily’s indefatigable work and outstanding organizational skills, Stanton and Anthony brought the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to Grand Rapids for its annual convention in 1899.

This amazing Chalkboard Champion passed away on January 13, 1907, in Detroit, Michigan. She was 68 years old. She is interred at Rosedale Memorial Park in Tallmadge, Ottawa County, Michigan.

To honor her work as a suffragist and educator, Emily Burton Ketcham was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame in 1999. To read more about Emily, see her page on the website for the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame.

Two beloved educators lost in California diving boat accident

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Angela Quitasol, a seventh-grade science teacher from Stockton, California, perished in The Conception diving boat accident on Labor Day.

For the second time this week, the educational community is mourning the loss of not one, but two, valued members of the profession. Both perished on board the commercial diving boat, The Conception. On Labor Day, the boat caught fire and sank off the coast of Santa Cruz Island in California.

Angela Quitasol, a seventh-grade science teacher from Stockton, California, was killed in the accident. Angela’s two sisters, her father, and her stepmother were also among the 34 total individuals lost.

Angela grew up in Stockton, California. As a young girl, she attended Sierra Middle School in the Lincoln Unified School District. After earning her teaching degree, she returned to her home town. There she accepted a teaching position at her alma mater. She taught there for four years.

“For Angela, students were her focus,” recalled Patty Kelley, Executive Assistant to the Superintendent. “She shared her passion for science with them and greeted them every day with a high five and a bright smile.” Angela was just 28 years old.

High school physics teacher Raymond “Scott” Chan of Fremont, California, was also killed in the diving boat fire.

The other educator lost in the accident was Raymond “Scott” Chan, a high school science teacher from Los Altos, California. Scott had just begun his third year of teaching Advanced Placement Physics at American High School in the Fremont Unified School District. He was 59 years old. Also lost was his 26-year-old daughter, Kendra, a marine biologist.

Scott worked as an electrical engineer in Silicon Valley for 20 years before going into the teaching profession. He earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Stanford University. He earned his teaching credential from Santa Clara University. Before coming to Fremont, Scott taught at Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo, Carlmont High School in Belmont, and Cupertino High School in Cupertino.

“His students knew him to be an innovative and inspiring teacher who developed a passion for physics among his students,” reads a statement from officials of Fremont Schools. “His loss is a tremendous tragedy for our school district.”

Scott’s former student Connor Vo agrees. “Definitely one of my favorite teachers,” the young man said. “Physics is really hard for people, but I think he tried to make it interesting for everyone. I don’t know, I just like teachers that try their best and really care about their students,” Connor concluded.

We will miss you, Angela and Scott.

Read more about the tragic accident at this online website for ABC 7 News.