Category Archives: Education

Olympic champion Samantha Livingstone was also a teacher and coach

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Samantha Arsenault Livingstone earned an Olympic Gold Medal in 2000. She later went on to teach science and coach swimming in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Photo credit: Samantha Livingstone

Oftentimes exceptional athletes become educators and/or coaches in our nation’s pubic schools. This is certainly true of Samantha Arsenault Livingstone, an Olympic Gold Medal winner who went on to teach and coach in Georgia.

Samantha was born on Oct. 11, 1981, in Peabody, Massachusetts. Her prowess as a student athlete became evident even when she was a young child. When she graduated from Gardner High School in 1999, her coaches recognized her potential as an Olympic athlete. By then, she had won several individual state championship titles, and she was instrumental in helping  her school garner two consecutive Massachusetts State team championships.

By the time she was 18, Samantha realized her potential when she qualified to compete in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. At these games she and her team members helped set a new Olympic record in the 4 x 200 meter freestyle, winning Gold Medals in the process.

After she returned home from the Olympics, Samantha enrolled at the University of Michigan, where she joined the swimming and diving team. In her sophomore year of college, she transferred to the University of Georgia, and she became a member of the swimming and diving team at that school, too.

Samantha earned both her Bachelor’s degree and her Master’s degree in Science Education from the University of Georgia. In addition, she is certified as a facilitator of Mindful Sports Performance Enhancement and is also trained in STARR (Stress + Trauma Activate, Release + Rewire) protocols.

After earning her degrees, Samantha accepted a position as a science teacher at Norcross High School in Gwinnett County, Georgia. She taught there for six years, from 2005 to 2011. She also coached swimming for two local organizations, Gwinnett County Summer programs and Swim Atlanta.

In 2016, Samantha founded Livingstone High Performance and the Whole athlete Initiative (WAI), an organization dedicated to building mental health support systems for individual athletes and athletic teams. Learn more about this by clicking on this link: WAI.

Over the course of her career as an athlete, Samantha has earned many accolades. She was named the NCAA Georgia Woman of the Year in 2005, and received the NCAA Top VIII Award the same year. She garnered the Joel Eves Award at the University of Georgia for obtaining the highest GPA for all the athletes in her graduating class, and was voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-America 1st Team. In 2018 she was inducted into the Greenfield, Massachussets’ Bay State Games Hall of Fame in recognition for her lifetime of sports achievements as a participant in their annual sporting event.

During Women’s History Month, we honor teacher Mary Mirada Knight

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Mary Miranda Knight of Washington state was a true pioneer. She served as the Superintendent of Schools in Mason County. Photo credit: William Knight.

Many intrepid pioneers in American history were also talented educators. One of these was Mary Miranda Knight, a teacher who earned accolades as an innovative educator in the state of Washington.

Mary was born on Sept. 2, 1854, in Ingham County in southern Michigan. She was one of seven children born to immigrants from Scotland. During her youth, her parents moved from Michigan to Dakota, and then to Washington State.

Mary was just a high school student when she declared her intention to become a teacher. She was 16 years old when she realized her dream and stood in front of her first classroom. Originally, she taught in Eaton Falls, Michigan, next in Huron, Dakota, and later in the cities of Shelton and Bellingham in Washington state. Her career as an educator spanned the years from 1870 to 1921, a total of 51 years.

In 1900, the pioneer teacher was elected to serve as the Superintendent of Schools in Mason County, Washington. She served in this position for 18 years. During her tenure, Mary worked diligently to consolidate the five small school districts along the western border of Mason County. Mary believed that one large school district could offer students greater educational opportunities than five small school districts could. The new school district was built in 1924, and was named Mary M. Knight School District #311 in her honor.

For her work in Washington schools, Mary was recognized with a school named in her after her, the Mary M. Knight High School. The school was built in then unincorporated area of Matlock, Washington.

Sadly, this Chalkboard Champion passed away on Jan. 31, 1940, in Seattle, following a lengthy illness. She was 86 years old. To learn more about her, see this online biography entitled Mary M Knight School District 311.

Victoria Soto: A Chalkboard Hero of Sandy Hook Elementary

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First grade teacher Victoria Soto lost her life while protecting her students from during the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Photo credit: My Hero Project

It is a sad fact that a number of American educators have been put in the unenviable position of protecting their students from active shooters. They are sometimes injured or killed while sheilding their students. One of these teachers was Victoria Soto, a first grade teacher who was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting on Dec. 14, 2012.

Victoria Soto was born on November 4, 1985, in Bridgeport, Connecticut.  In 2003, she graduated from Stratford High School located in Stratford, Connecticut. Following her graduation, she enrolled in Eastern Connecticut State University. There she earned a dual Bachelor’s degree in History and Education, with honors. She also took courses towards her Master’s degree at Southern Connecticut State University.

Once she earned her teaching credentials, Victoria accepted a position as an elementary teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. On December 14, 2013, Victoria was engaged in teaching her first grade class when gunman Adam Lanza burst into the school wielding several weapons and looking for victims. He started shooting. Staff and students heard Lanza discharging his weapons over the school public address system. By the time the gunman made his way to her classroom, Victoria had been able to hide her children in a closet. When confronted by Lanza, Victoria told him the students had been sent to the school gym. But some of the children were too afraid to stay hidden. When they ran from their hiding place, the shooter began to fire at them. In a supreme act of heroism, Victoria threw herself between Lanza and the children. In so doing, she sustained a fatal gunshot wound.

Victoria was only 27 years old when she was killed. Her career spanned five years. The Chalkboard Champion was laid to rest in Union Cemetery Stratford in Fairfield County, Connecticutt.

In 2013, President Barack Obama awarded Victoria a Presidential Citizens Medal posthumously. The medal honors Americans who have performed “exemplary deeds of service” for their country or fellow citizens. The medal is is the government’s second-highest civilian award.

Read more about this amazing educator in this online article entitled “The Teacher as Hero.”

Middle school educator Becky Haenfler named SD’s 2026 State Teacher of the Year

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Becky Haenfler, a middle school English Language Arts teacher, has been named South Dakota’s 2026 State Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Makenzie Huber, South Dakota Searchlight

Many outstanding teachers work with our nation’s young people in pubic schools. All of them are dedicated and hardworking, and occasionally some of them are singled out for special recognition. One of these is Becky Haenfler, a middle school teacher from South Dakota. She has been named her state’s 2026 Teacher of the Year.

Becky’s career as an educator spans 19 years. Currently, she teaches Language Arts to students in fifth through seventh grades at Avon Middle School in rural Avon, South Dakota. In fact, she works in the very same classroom she attended as a child. Her lessons are known to be engaging and meaningful, which helps her students make real-world connections. She also coaches basketball, volleyball, and track on her campus.

The honored educator is well-respected in her school district, and beyond. “Becky Haenfler has a wonderful reputation at Avon School District as being an engaging educator whose teaching style gets kids excited about reading,” declares South Dakota Secretary of Education Joseph Graves. “She is committed to making sure all of her students have the supports they need to read novels that challenge and inspire them, and that experience turns them into lifelong readers,” he continues.

Ever since she was a child, Becky has dreamed of becoming a teacher, she recently revealed. “I don’t remember wanting to do anything else,” she confesses. “Initially, it was having a good experience going to school in Avon. Having a great experience as a student made me want to come back to school to keep doing this,” she continued.

Becky earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and her Master’s degree as a Reading Literacy Specialist in 2024, both from the University of South Dakota.

To learn more about Becky Haenfler, click on this link to an interview with her published by the South Dakota State Department of Education.

Reading Specialist Jenna DiEleuterio named Delaware’s 2026 Teacher of the Year

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Jenna DiEleuterio, a middle school reading interventionist from Delaware, has been named her state’s 2026 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Wilmington University News

There are so many outstanding educators working with our nation’s young people who are deserving of recognition. Alas, not all of them receive the accolades they should receive. Some them, however, do earn honors they are due. One of them is Jenna DiEleuterio, a middle school reading interventionist from Delaware.

Jenna teaches at Talley Middle School in the Brandywine School District located in Wilmington. She works with students in grades six through eight there.

“As a reading specialist, I use literacy to give students voice and agency,” declares Jenna. “When they build a strong relationship with reading, they can access content, make informed decisions, and express themselves with confidence,” she continues. “I want every student to feel seen and heard, and to know that I care and our school community cares. Their voices matter,” she concludes.

In addition to her work with young people, Jenna serves as the facilitator and pioneer of the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) team at her school and throughout her community’s secondary schools. In this role, she brings educators together to analyze data, evaluate interventions, and ensure instruction is tailored to meet the needs of every student.

Jenna earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary and Special Education from Elizabethtown College. She earned her Master’s degree in Reading and her PhD in Teacher Leadership, both from Wilmington University. She is also a graduate of Leadership Delaware, an organization committed to cultivating strong and diverse leadership. Her career as an educator spans 15 years.

Her selection as Delaware’s 20276 Teacher of the Year is not the only recognition Jenna has earned. In 2024 she received Claymont Lion Club’s Humanitarian Award for her Peace Walk Initiative, which brings together students, families, educators, and community organizations to build stronger connections. That same year, she earned a Compostela certificate for completing El Camino de Santiago, a 500-mile pilgrimage across Spain.