Category Archives: Education

Elem teacher Alondra Diaz named CA’s 2022 Teacher of the Year

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Elementary school teacher Alondra Diaz of Lake Forest, California, has been named California’s 2022 State Teacher of the Year. Photo Credit: Twitter.

Congratulations are due to elementary teacher Alondra Diaz. She has been named the 2022 California State Teacher of the Year!

Alondra teaches third grade in the dual language immersion program at Ralph A. Gates Dual Language Immersion (DLI) Magnet Elementary School in Lake Forest, California. She has worked there since 2017. Previously she taught dual language Spanish and English to elementary and middle schoolers at the Orange County Educational Arts Academy for ten years. In all, her career as an educator has spanned 14 years. No matter where she works, Alondra is a passionate advocate for language acquisition for all students.

The honored educator was raised in Santa Ana, a predominantly Latino suburb of Los Angeles. As a bilingual student, Alondra says she learned first-hand the power of education. Homelessness and other childhood traumas posed obstacles, but school was always a stabilizing influence for her. “Fortunately, I had amazing teachers who inspired me along the way and believed in me, even when I didn’t,” she says.

Now that she is in the classroom, Alondra declares she is committed to empowering students and their community. As a teacher leader, she provides support to aspiring and new teachers in her role as lead mentor teacher.

Before her selection as California’s Teacher of the Year, Alondra was named one of six Orange County Teachers of the Year. She has garnered other accolades as well. She earned the 2020 Woman of the Year award in the category of Community and Education presented by the National Hispanic Women’s Business Association. Additionally, she is a member of the California Department of Education’s Superintendent Teacher Advisory Council.

Alondra earned her Bachelor’s degree in Peace Studies with an emphasis in Spanish language, and a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction, both from Chapman University.

Dedicated teacher Jason Stroups succumbs to Covid-19

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Dedicated high school math instructor and college adjunct professor Jason Stroups succumbed to Covid-19 on Jan. 6, 2022. Photo Credit: Jefferson College

We are sad to report that Covid-19 has claimed the life of yet another dedicated educator. Jason Stroups, a mathematics teacher in Arnold, Missouri, succumbed to the disease on Jan. 6, 2022. He was only 52 years old.

Jason was born on May 11, 1969, in St. Louis, Missouri. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Science Education from the University of Central Missouri, and his Master’s degree from Southwest Baptist University.

In a career that spanned 30 years, Jason’s first job as an educator was as a permanent substitute teacher in his district. Eventually he worked his way into a job in the Central Office helping students earn their GEDs. From there he accepted a teaching position at Ridgewood Middle School, where he worked from 1993 to1995, and then he moved on to Fox High School, where he taught math from 1995 until his passing. In addition, for more than 20 years, Jason was was an adjunct professor at Jefferson College, Missouri Baptist University, and Maryville University.

“I have had a lot of people say he inspired them to be math teachers or he was the first teacher to get them to understand math,” recalls the fallen teacher’s daughter, Jennifer Stroups. “He really connected with kids who didn’t understand because he had to teach himself in a unique way because he didn’t like school growing up,” she revealed.

Jason worked at the school he attended as a young high school student. He and his wife, Kim, both graduated from Fox High School after attending Seckman Junior High School in Imperial, said Kathy Crandall, the fallen educator’s sister-in-law.

“He was fun loving and family oriented. He was dedicated to teaching and putting others before himself,” shared Jason’s widow, Kim Stroups, who now works as the librarian at Ridgewood Middle School. She commented that even after Jason was diagnosed with Covid-19 and hospitalized, he continued to work. “Even after he was admitted to the hospital and he was on oxygen, he had his computer out and was submitting college grades and answering questions about grades and finals,” she remembered.

Educator Mary Harris “Mother” Jones also a tireless union organizer

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Educator Mary Harris “Mother” Jones dedicated her life to the improvement of the lives of others as a tireless union organizer. Photo Credit: Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries.

Many hardworking educators dedicate their lives to the improvement of the lives of others. One of these was Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, a teacher, dressmaker, and union organizer.

Mary Jones was born in 1837 in Cork City, County Cork, Ireland, the daughter of impoverished tenant farmers. She was just a teenager when her family immigrated to Canada to escape the Irish Potato Famine. Later, her family moved to the United States.

Perhaps because of her own struggles, all her life, Mary was passionate about the welfare of children and the underprivileged. Following her graduation from normal school at age seventeen, she became a schoolteacher, first at a convent in Monroe, Michigan, and later in Memphis, Tennessee. It was in Memphis that she met and married George E. Jones, an iron molder and union member. Tragically, the young schoolteacher lost her husband and all four of their children, all under the age of five, in the yellow fever epidemic of 1867. Next, Mary relocated to Chicago and established a dressmaking shop. Unfortunately, the workshop was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Following the demise of her business, Mary began working as an organizer for the Knights of Labor and the United Mine Workers Union. She helped coordinate several major strikes, and she also co-founded the Industrial Workers of the World. Because she referred to the union members as “her boys,” Mary was often referred to as “Mother” Jones. Mary gained fame for mobilizing the wives of striking coal miners to march with brooms and mops in an effort to block strikebreakers from crossing the picket lines.  In 1902, one American district attorney called her “the most dangerous woman in America” because of her success in organizing mine workers and their families against the mine owners.

In 1903, Mary was greatly disturbed by the inadequate enforcement of child labor laws in mines and silk mills in Pennsylvania, so she organized one hundred youngsters in a Children’s March from Kensington, Philadelphia, to the home of President Theodore Roosevelt in Oyster Bay, New York. In the procession, the children carried banners that proclaimed, “We want to go to school, and not the mines!”

Mary Harris Jones died in Adelphi, New York, on November 30, 1930, at the age of 93. She was buried in Union Miners Cemetery in Mount Olive, Illinois. In her honor, Mary Harris “Mother” Jones Elementary School in Adelphi was named after her. This amazing former schoolteacher will always be remembered as a Chalkboard Champion.

Former teacher Judy Hawley also served in Texas House of Reps

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Former teacher and tennis coach Judy Hawley also served four terms in the Texas State House of Representatives. Photo Credit: Caller Times

Many excellent educators also fill positions of prominence in the political sphere. One of these is Judy Hawley, a former teacher from Texas who also served in her state’s House of Representatives.

Judy was born on Dec. 7, 1945, in Portland, Texas. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in 1967 from Knox College, a private liberal arts college located in Galesburg, Illinois. Once she earned her degree, Judy inaugurated her career as an educator when she accepted a position in the Gregory-Portland Independent School District. She also served as a tennis coach there.

In 1995, with support from the Texas Classroom Teachers Association and the Texas State Teachers Association, Judy was elected on the Democratic ticket to represent District 31 in the Texas House of Representatives. There she served as Vice Chair of the Transportation and Energy Resources Committees and Chair of the Rural Caucus. She also represented Texas as Vice Chair of the Southern States Energy Board and as a member of the National Energy Council. She was a member of the Texas House for a total of four terms.

Once she left the Texas State House, Judy served on the Corpus Christi Port Commission. She held that position from 2004 to 2016. In her last two years on the Commission she served as the Chair. Her biggest accomplishment during her tenure on the Port Commission was her effort to spearhead the Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge replacement project. For her stellar work there, Judy was elected to the Texas Transportation Hall of Honor in 2019. The former teacher also served as the Chair of the Texas State Aquarium Board and Co-Chair of the Chamber Infrastructure Committee.

In rent years, Judy has served on numerous community boards, including those of the South Texas Institute of the Arts, South Texas Public Broadcasting, the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation, Texas Maritime Museum, Regional Leaders Forum, and Citizens for Educational Excellence.

Today, she is 76 years old.