High school teacher Matilda Hansen also served her community in the Wyoming House of Representatives. Photo credit: Wyomingnews.com
Many fine educators have also served their community as capable politicians. One of these is Matilda Hansen, a high school teacher who also served in the Wyoming House of Representatives.
Matilda was born on September 4, 1929, near Paullina, Iowa. As a young girl, she attended one-room schools in northwest Iowa. As a teenager, she graduated from Scattergood Friends High School in 1948.
After her high school graduation, Matilda earned her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1963. She earned her Master’s degree in Geography from the University of Wyoming in 1970. She then taught high school at Englewood High School in Colorado from 1963 to 1965, and served as the Director of the Albany County Adult Learning Center in Laramie, Wyoming, from 1966 to 1978.
Later, Matilda was elected on the Democratic ticket to represent District 13, Albany County, in the Wyoming House of Representatives. She served there from 1975 to 1995. While there, she served on various committees, including Juvenile Affairs; Children, Families, and Social Services; Health and Human Resources; Rules; Judiciary; Administrative Rules; Lien Laws; and Appropriations. Matilda’s most notable legislative work addressed education and women’s issues. In addition, she was the driving force for the creation of the Wyoming Territorial Park in Laramie, Wyoming. She was the first woman to serve 20 consecutive years in the House, completing her term as Assistant Minority Floor Leader in 1994.
For her work in the classroom and in the community, Matilda earned several accolades. In 1963, she was named a General Electric Fellow in Economics for High School Teachers. She also garnered the award for Public Citizen of Year by the Wyoming Association Social Workers for 1980-1981.
This Chalkboard Champion passed away on August 19, 2019, in Laramie, Wyoming, at the age of 89.
Elementary school teacher Jeanne Manford gained notoriety when she marched next to her son, Morty Manford, in a 1972 gay rights parade in New York. Later she founded PFLAG, which earned her a Presidential Citizens Medal in 2012. Photo credit: SFGATE.
Many American schoolteachers have worked diligently on social causes near and dear to their own heart. One of these was Jeanne Manford, a New York elementary school teacher who worked diligently to advance the acceptance of gay and lesbian people in this country.
Jeanne was born on December 4, 1930 in Flushing, Queens, New York. After earning her Bachelor’s degree from Queens College in the late 1930’s, Jeanne accepted a position as a teacher at PS 32 in Queens. She taught fourth, fifth, and sixth grade there for 26 years.
Following a vicious attack in 1972 on her gay son, Morty, Jeanne and her husband, Jules, founded a local support group for parents of gays and lesbians. “She never thought twice about it. She fought for him,” recalled Jeanne’s daughter, Suzanne Swan. “This was a 5-foot-2, thin, blond woman who had a spine of steel. She just did what she knew to be right,” Swan continued.
Over time, the group Jeanne founded grew into the international organization known as Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, or PFLAG. It now boasts more than 350 chapters and more than 200,000 members and supporters in the United States.
Jeanne’s work on this social cause was so appreciated that she was named the Grand Marshal of New York City’s Gay Pride March in June, 1991. She was also the Grand Marshal of the first Pride Parade held in Queens, New York in 1993. President Barack Obama honored the Chalkboard Champion with a Presidential Citizens Medal in 2012.
After nearly three decades in the classroom, Jeanne retired in 1990 at the age of 70. She passed away on January 8, 2013, in Daly City, California at the age of 92.
Sadly, beloved Texas PE teacher and soccer coach Joey Rodriguez succumbed to Covid-19 on Oct. 17, 2021. He was only 43 years old. Photo credit: The Dallas Morning News.
We are sad to report that Covid-19 has claimed the life of yet another beloved educator. Joey Rodriguez, and teacher and coach from Arlington, Texas, succumbed to the disease on Sunday, Oct. 17.
At the time of his passing, Joey was a Physical Education teacher and soccer coach at Sam Houston High School in the Arlington Independent School District. Joey Rodriguez devoted 12 years of his professional life to the school.
Former student Selena Saldana, class of 2013, says she will greatly miss her former teacher. “He was my high school PE teacher, and he was always pushing me to do much more,” she remembered. “Every time we had to run on the track and I would stop to take a break, he would yell, ‘Come on, Selena. You can do it. Don’t stop now.’ He was really supportive,” she said.
In addition to teaching physical education, Joey worked as the school’s soccer coach since 2009. “Twice, he led his soccer teams to the state championship,” recalled Marcelo Cavazos, Superintendent of Arlington Schools. “He grew the program so rapidly that the district had to hire more coaches so that all of the kids who wanted to learn from Coach Rodriguez could have the opportunity,” Cavazos noted.
Coach Rodriguez’s Sam Houston team made their first state tournament appearance in school history in 2015.That year, the student athletes reached the Class 6A semifinals and finished 23-3-2. In 2017, the Sam Houston team was the state runner-up, losing to Jesuit in overtime in the title game to finish 22-3-2. Sam Houston High School is one of only three schools in the Arlington District to qualify for the state tournament in boys soccer. In addition to coaching, Joey served as the President of the Texas Association of Soccer Coaches.
Joey graduated from Abilene High School in 1995 where he participated in soccer, football, and marching band. After his high school graduation, Joey enrolled at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, where he studied and played soccer for two years before transferring to Hardin Simmons University in Abilene. He graduated from Hardin Simmons with a Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education in 2001.
Many talented educators earn recognition for achievements outside of the classroom. This is true of science and math teacher Joseph Michael Acaba, who is also a hydro-geologist and NASA educator astronaut. This chalkboard champion is the first individual of Puerto Rican descent to become a NASA astronaut.
Math teacher and US astronaut Joseph Acaba. Photo credit: NASA
Joe was born on May 17, 1967, in Inglewood, California, where his parents, Ralph and Elsie Acaba, had moved from Hatillo, Puerto Rico, during the 1960s. When he was an elementary student, Joe excelled in both science and math. He enjoyed reading, particularly science fiction stories. He also appreciated educational movies, and credits his interest in space to a film he watched in his boyhood depicting Neil Armstrong’s 1969 landing on the moon. During his senior year in high school, he became interested in scuba diving, and later he became a certified scuba diver through a job-training program at his school. This experience inspired him to further his academic education in the field of geology. In 1985, Joe graduated with honors from Esperanza High School in Anaheim, California.
Joe earned his Bachelor’s degree in Geology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1990, and his Master’s degree in Geology from the University of Arizona in 1992. Following his graduation, Joe enlisted as a reservist in the US Marine Corps, where he served his country for six years. During this time, Joe worked as a hydro-geologist in Los Angeles, where he was involved in the assessment and remediation of groundwater contaminants. He has also worked for the Caribbean Marine Research in the Bahamas and as a shoreline re-vegetation coordinator in Vero Beach, Florida.
Additionally, Joe spent two years in the Peace Corps, where he trained over 300 teachers in modern teaching methodologies in the Dominican Republic. “Once I did that, I knew that education was what I wanted to do,” Joe said. To fulfill this dream, after leaving the Peace Corps Joe taught one year of high school science and math at Melbourne High School in Melbourne, Florida, and four years of science and math at Dunnellon Middle School in Dunnellon, Florida. Then, in May 2004, the veteran educator was one of three classroom teachers selected by NASA to be a mission specialist. “The only job that could take me away from teaching is being an astronaut,” he confessed. “Being an educator astronaut is the best of both worlds.”
In February 2006, Joe completed his astronaut candidate training, which included scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in shuttle and International Space Station systems, physiological training, T-38 flight training, and water and wilderness survival training. Upon completion of his training, Joe was assigned to the Hardware Integration Team in the Space Station Branch, working technical issues with European Space Agency hardware. He was also a member of the Space Shuttle Branch, supporting shuttle launch and landing preparations at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Joe’s first space mission was aboard STS-119, which flew from March 15 to March 28, 2009. The task for this mission was to deliver the final set of solar arrays to the International Space Station. Joe performed two space walks during this mission. His second space mission was Expedition 31/32, which was launched on May 15, 2012, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and returned on September 17, 2012. As a member of the Expedition 31/32 crews, Joe spent 123 days aboard the International Space Station as a flight engineer. The intrepid educator has logged a total of 138 days in space during his two missions.
Joe once said that, as an educator astronaut, he hoped to reach out to minority students. On March 18, 2008, he traveled to Puerto Rico, where he was honored by the island’s senate. During his visit, Joe met with school children at the capitol and at Science Park located in Bayamon. Science Park boasts a planetarium and several surplus NASA rockets among its exhibits. Joe made a second trip to Puerto Rico on June 1, 2009. On that trip he spent seven days on the island and came into contact with over 10,000 citizens, most of them school children.
Joe is active in several professional organizations. He is a member of the International Technology Education Association, the Florida Association of Science Teachers, and the Association of Space Explorers. During his career, Joe has earned many honors. He has been given the Ana G. Mendez University System Presidential Medal and a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico. In addition, Caras Magazine designated Joe as one of the most influential and exciting Puerto Ricans of 2012.
“As an educator,” this chalkboard champion once expounded, “I think the most important thing for me is to fulfill the goal of inspiring the next generation. Motivating kids to learn is as important as the subject matter.”
Educator Astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger. Photo credit: NASA
When Christa McAuliffe was selected to be the first Teacher in Space, the educational community was very excited and immensely proud. It was truly a sad day on January 28, 1986, when this gifted and talented educator perished, along with six other astronauts, in the Challenger disaster. But the Teacher in Space program lives on, and other remarkable teachers have been fortunate enough to be a part of it. One such teacher is Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger.
Dorothy, who prefers to be called Dottie, was born May 2, 1975, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the daughter of two teachers. She graduated from Fort Collins High School in Fort Collins, Colorado. After her high school graduation, she earned her bachelor’s degree in geology from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, in 1997, and her teaching certificate from Central Washington University at Ellensburg, Washington, in 1999. That year, she was named the Outstanding Teacher Preparation Candidate at the university.
Dottie was employed for five years as a science teacher at Hudson’s Bay High School in Vancouver, Washington, where she instructed courses in earth science and astronomy, and also coached the Science Olympiad. An accomplished athlete, Dottie also coached cross country for three years.
It was through her teaching that Dottie became involved in the NASA astronaut program. One day, while educating her students about the Hubble Space Telescope, one of her students asked her how astronauts go to the bathroom in space. To find the answer, Dottie consulted the NASA website, where she found not only the answer, but also an application to become an educator astronaut. Just over a year later, in May, 2004, the gifted educator was selected to be an Astronaut Candidate. To complete the program, Dottie underwent rigorous training that included orientations, briefings, tours, scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in space shuttle and international space station systems, physiological training, flight training, and water and wilderness survival training. Successful completion of this training in February, 2006, qualified her as a NASA astronaut. Dottie then served as a Mission Specialist in April, 2010, on STS-131, a space shuttle mission to the international space station.
On April 16, 2012, NASA announced that Dottie would command the NEEMO 16 undersea exploration mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory, scheduled to begin on June 11, 2012, and last twelve days.The NEEMO 16 crew successfully “splashed down” at 11:05 am on June 11. On the morning of June 12, the former teacher and her crewmates officially became aquanauts, having spent over 24 hours underwater.The crew safely returned to the surface on June 22.
Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger. The Teacher in Space program lives on in her.
