NASA’s Educator Astronaut Project Sends Classroom Teachers into Space

Posted on March 29, 2018 by Terry Lee Marzell

The Educator Astronaut Project is a program sponsored by NASA to educate America’s students about space exploration. Inaugurated in the 1990s, the program furthers the objectives established in the original Teacher in Space Program. One of these objectives was to elevate teaching as a profession, and another of these objectives was to inspire students to pursue careers in science and math. Educator astronauts are fully trained astronauts who fly aboard spacecraft as full-fledged crew members. They have duties and responsibilities that are the same as any other astronaut. In addition, they prepare lessons and demonstrations about space exploration for students in America’s classrooms.

Educator Astronauts Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger (left), Ricard Arnold (center), and Joseph Acaba (right).

To date, there have been four teachers who have been trained as educator astronauts. These teachers are Montana teacher Barbara Morgan; Florida educator Joseph Acaba; Maryland teacher Richard Arnold; and Washington educator Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger. New Hampshire educator Christa McAuliffe, the first participant in the Teacher in Space program, was classified as a civilian member of the crew. Tragically, she perished along with six astronauts in the space shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986.

To read more about teachers in space, click on this link to Citizens in Space.org. To read more about the Educator Astronaut Project, click on this link to Revolvy.

Sarah Lee Brown Fleming: Teacher, activist, and author

Posted on March 28, 2018 by Terry Lee Marzell

Sarah Lee Brown Fleming

There are many accomplished educators in American history who have distinguished themselves as community activists. Sarah Lee Brown Fleming, a school teacher from Brooklyn, New York, is one such educator.

Sarah Lee Brown was born in poverty in Charleston, South Carolina, on January 10, 1875. She was raised in Brooklyn, New York. As a young girl, Sarah dreamed of becoming a school teacher. However, her father discouraged this goal, believing that Sarah could only aspire to be a domestic. Little did he know that one day, Sarah would become the first African American teacher in the Brooklyn public school system.

In 1902, Sarah married Richard Stedman Fleming. After their marriage, the couple moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where Richard became the first African American dentist to practice in the state. The union produced two children: a daughter named Dorothy born in 1903, and a son named Harold born in 1906.

An associate of Mary McLeod Bethune, Sarah channeled her energy into bettering the educational opportunities for African American women. She organized the New Haven Women’s Civic League in 1929, and in 1936, she established the Phillis Wheatley Home for Girls, a shelter for young Black women who had just moved to New Haven in search of employment. In fact, Sarah’s work was recognized by Congress in 1955, the same year she received the Sojourner Truth Scroll from the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Club.

In addition to her civic work, Sarah was also a published playwright, novelist, and poet named as part of the Harlem Renaissance movement. Sarah’s most notable published works are her novel Hope’s Highway, published in 1918, and a collection of poems entitled Clouds and Sunshine, published in 1920.

Sarah passed away in January, 1963, five days before her 87th birthday.

Frank Caprio: The Former Teacher, Judge, and Television Personality

Posted on March 26, 2018 by Terry Lee Marzell

There are many instances when masterful classroom teachers go on to find success in fields other than education. This is the case with Rhode Island’s Frank Caprio, a former social studies teacher who has earned a reputation as a fine municipal judge and popular television personality.

Frank was born on November 23, 1936, to parents who had immigrated from Italy to Providence, Rhode Island, in 1912. To support the family, the parents sold fruit from a pushcart on Providence’s Federal Hill. As a student in public schools, young Frank contributed income to the family by washing dishes and shining shoes. All during his childhood, Frank’s parents emphasized the value of hard work, the importance of education, and a commitment to service.

After his graduation from Providence’s Central High School, Frank earned his bachelor’s degree from Providence College. After he earned his bachelor’s degree in political science, he accepted a position as a teacher of American history and government at Hope High School, a public high school on the East Side of Providence. The young teacher married and started a family. Then Frank decided he wanted to change careers and study law, so he enrolled in night courses at the Suffolk University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts.

The former educator began his career in the legal profession in 1965. Since 1985, he has served as a Providence Municipal Court Judge. His court is very popular in Rhode Island as a result of his highly acclaimed television show Caught in Providence, produced by his brother, Joseph Caprio. The show has appeared on a major local TV channel for three years and on a local cable channel for eight years.

Remembering his parents’ encouragement to be of service, Frank has established scholarships to benefit Rhode Island school children. The former educator named his scholarships in honor of his father, a man who had only a fifth grade education but, according to Frank, possessed deep wisdom and great perseverance. Frank also volunteers at local charities such as Boys Town of Italy, the Nickerson House Juvenile Court, and the Federal Hill House.

To recognize Frank’s many years of public service, the Multicultural Center of the University of Rhode Island honored him with its Lifetime Diversity Award. “Judge Caprio is the embodiment of the American dream, a man who understood that education and hard work unlock the doors to success,” expressed Robert L. Carothers, spokesperson for the University of Rhode Island. “Moreover, having succeeded as an individual, he turned his energies to helping others, especially the children of immigrants and minorities, find access to educational opportunities that would allow them to pass through those same doors,” Carothers concluded.

Read more about Frank at the link Judge Caprio or about his television show at Caught in Providence.

Clarence Acox, Jr.: Music instructor extraordinaire

Posted on March 25, 2018 by Terry Lee Marzell

There are many gifted musicians who share their extensive talents with fortunate students in the classroom. One such musician is Clarence Acox, Jr., a high school music teacher and jazz musician who resides in Seattle, Washington.

Clarence was born in October, 1947, in New Orleans. As a youngster, he attended Joseph S. Clark Preparatory High School in Treme, Louisiana. After his high school graduation, he enrolled at Southern University, a historically Black university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He graduated in 1971.

After his college commencement, the young graduate accepted a position as a music instructor at Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington. Famed musicians Jimi Hendrix, Ishmael Butler, Quincy Jones, and Ernestine Anderson are all Garfield alumni. Under Clarence’s capable leadership, the high school’s Jazz Ensemble has captured the first place title two times at New York’s Essentially Ellington National Jazz Band Competition and Festival at New York City’s Lincoln Center (2003, 2004). This competition is the nation’s most prestigious high school jazz band competition. Additionally, under his expert tutelage, the Garfield High School Band has traveled to Europe on eleven tours, attending music festivals in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France, and the Netherlands.

In addition to his work in the classroom, Clarence performs regularly on the jazz nightclub scene in Seattle. He is a member of the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, which he co-founded in 1995 with Michael Brockman, a saxophone instructor with the University of Washington. In addition, Clarence is the director of the Jazz Ensemble representing Seattle University.

For his outstanding work in the classroom, Clarence has earned many prestigious awards. In 1991, he was honored as the Musician of the Year by the Earshot Jazz Society of Seattle. He was named Educator of the Year by Down Beat Magazine in 2001, and in 2003 he garnered the Impact Award by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), an organization best known for presenting the Grammy Awards each year. In 2004, Clarence was named Outstanding Music Educator by the Seattle Music Educators Association, and in 2011, he was inducted into the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Hall of Fame. Additionally, in May, 2016, Clarence was recognized with an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.

To learn more about this remarkable educator and musician, click on JazzJournalists.org or BlackPast.org.

Students, educators, and concerned citizens attend March for Our Lives rallies

Posted on March 24, 2018 by Terry Lee Marzell

All over the country today thousands of Americans expressed their demands for common sense gun reform in coordinated March for Our Lives rallies that took place in many cities throughout the nation, large and small. Organized entirely by young people, the movement has galvanized students, parents, educators, and concerned citizens who are in support of the reforms proposed by the students.

I was one of over 4,000 people that attended today’s event organized for Riverside, California. I must say, it was inspirational to watch these impassioned young people participating in the democratic process and exercising their Constitutional rights to freedoms of speech and assembly, to hear their emotion-packed speeches, and to watch them take the lead to work for positive social change.

You can view photos below of just a few of the students and teachers who participated in the Riverside event. For more information about today’s rally in Riverside, you can read the article published by the Inland Empire Press Enterprise.