Category Archives: Education

Alaskan teacher Dan Seavey helped organize the Iditarod Race

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Alaskan Social Studies teacher Dan Seavey was instrumental in organizing the modern-day Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Photo credit: Seward Community Foundation

Many outstanding educators have the most unusual personal projects. One of these is Dan Seavey, a high school teacher who is a self-described “hard-core Iditarod junkie.” In fact, he was instrumental in reviving the sport of dog mushing and establishing the modern-day Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Dan Seavey was born and raised in Hamlet Lake, Minnesota. But even as a young boy in his one-room rural school, he read Jack London’s stories which triggered a fascination for the far-off Alaskan Territory.

When he grew to become a young man, Dan enrolled in St. Cloud Teacher’s College (now St. Cloud State University). Once he earned his Bachelor’s degree, he accepted his first position as a social studies teacher and volunteer wrestling coach at the Red Wing Reformatory for Boys in Red Wing, Minnesota. That was in 1962. “I soon came to consider one-on-one rapport with students to be of greater importance than assigned academic duties,” recalled Dan. But even though he enjoyed his job in Red Wing, he never let go of his fascination for The Last Frontier.

Dan’s stint in Red Wing lasted about a year and half. Then he got the news that he’d been offered a teaching job in the newly-formed 49th state. With great excitement, he accepted the position. In 1963, Dan and he wife, Shirley, traveled with their three young children north on the 3,500-mile Alaska Highway—and some of that highway was nothing more than dirt road! They landed in Seward, where the couple established a homestead. There he continued his career in education as a social studies teacher at Seward High School. Dan spent the next 20 years there before he retired. During those years, he established the first outdoor education program on the Kenai Peninsula. He developed the program for his high school students to teach them the skills they needed to survive in the wilderness without the conveniences of home. His program was so successful that one year the senior trip was camping in Denali for a week.

But Dan is probably best known for his involvement with the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. “My interest in the historic trail began in 1963 when I was assigned to teach Alaska History.” explained Dan. “I was taken with the trail’s importance to Alaska’s early development and Seward’s vital role in that development,” he continued. As a result, he launched himself into an active role in all aspects of the Itidarod Trail, including helping to inaugurate the first modern-day Itidarod Race in 1973. The tradition continues to this day. He details his experience in his book The First Great Race: Alaska’s 1973 Iditarod available on amazon. With his sons and grandsons, Dan also leads Alaska dogsled tours for tourists, which you can explore on his website at Ididaride Dogsled Tours.

In 2016, Dan was inducted into the Iditarod Hall of Fame for his tireless work as a pioneer and a preservationist for the Iditarod. In addition, he is one of the founders of the Iditarod Trail Blazers, a local nonprofit dedicated to establishing a physical trail from Seward into the Interior.

Educator Gladys Kamakuokalani Brandt advanced social causes

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Educator Gladys Kamakuokalani Brandt worked tirelessly to advance social causes, especially the knowledge of Hawaiian students about their own culture. Photo Credit: Kamehaha Schools

Many hardworking educators dedicate themselves to social causes of importance in addition to their classroom responsibilities. One of these is this beautiful lady, Gladys Kamakuokalani Brandt, a Native Hawaiian teacher, who worked tirelessly towards increasing the knowledge of Native Hawaiian students about their own culture.

Gladys is old enough to have attended the funeral services in 1917 of Queen Liliuokalani, the last reining monarch of Hawaii, and still young enough to witness the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 which brought the United States into World War II.

When Gladys began her career as a teacher, she worked in public schools in Hawaii. Eventually she became an instructor at the prestigious Kamehameha Schools, a private institution set up to educate Native Hawaiian students.

As a youngster, Gladys was led to feel deeply ashamed of her Hawaiian heritage, so much so that she rubbed her face with lemon juice to lighten her complexion. By the time she became the Principal of Kamehameha Schools, however, she had resolved to fight tirelessly for the inclusion of courses to preserve Native Hawaiian culture. She supported instruction in Hawaiian language, song, and the controversial standing hula dance which had been forbidden by the school’s trustees. The story of her work is truly an inspirational one.

Equally inspirational is the story of the dedication and sacrifice of Hawaii’s teachers in the days and weeks following the bombing of Pear Harbor. From serving as ambulance drivers, setting up shelters for survivors, teaching their students how to use gas masks, taking their students into the sugar cane fields to harvest the crops, and re-establishing some semblance of order for their students when school resumed, their deeds are truly remarkable.

You can read about Gladys and her fellow Hawaiian teachers in my book, Chalkboard Champions:  Twelve Remarkable Teachers Who Educated America’s Disenfranchised Students.

John Houston Ingle: English teacher and successful Hollywood actor

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Many educators have enjoyed success in other professions. One such teacher is John Houston Ingle, who earned acclaim as a Hollywood actor. Photo credit: Soap Opera Network

Many Chalkboard Champions have enjoyed success in professions outside of the field of education. One such teacher is John Houston Ingle, who also earned acclaim as a Hollywood actor.

John is probably best known as the actor who played the part of Edward Quartermain, the scheming patriarch, on the daytime television soap opera General Hospital.Others will remember him as the actor who portrayed Mickey Horton in the rival soap opera Days of Our Lives. John has also appeared in episodes of The Office, The Golden Girls, Night Court, and Boy Meets World. And, in addition, he has appeared in films such as Death Becomes Her, Robocop 2, The Land Before Time, and Heathers. He also voiced many characters in animated features such as the Jetsons, Smurfs, and the Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera.

This former teacher and talented educator was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1928. He graduated from Verdugo Hills High School in Tujunga, California. After high school, John attended Occidental College in Los Angeles. He began his career as an educator when he accepted a position teaching English and Theater at Hollywood High School in 1955. In 1964, he transferred to Beverly Hills High School in Beverly Hills, California. During his tenure there, his students included such celebrities as Nicolas Cage, Richard Dreyfuss, Barbara Hershey, Swoozie Kurtz, Stefanie Powers, and David Schwimmer. John also taught courses at the University of California, Los Angeles. John retired from the teaching profession in 1985.

John Houston Ingle, Chalkboard Champion and Hollywood actor, passed away in 2012 at the age of 84. You can read his obituary at this link.

California teacher Maria Lopez worked to secure the right to vote for women

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Dedicated English as a Second Language teacher Maria Lopez worked diligently towards securing the right to vote for women in California. Photo Credit: National Women’s History Museum 

There are many dedicated women educators who worked tirelessly to secure the right to vote for women. One of these was Maria Lopez, an English teacher from Southern California.

Maria Guadalupe Evangelina de Lopez was born in Los Angeles in 1881, at Casa Vieja, her family home in the San Gabriel. Her father, who worked as a blacksmith, was an immigrant from Mexico.

As a young girl, Maria graduated from Pasadena High School in 1897. She then enrolled at the Los Angeles State Normal School, which would later become UCLA. There she studied to be a teacher. Once she earned her teaching certificate, Maria accepted a position at Los Angeles High School, where she taught English as a Second Language. She also worked as a translator. During her years as a professional educator, Maria earned a reputation for being a devoted teacher, working diligently to educate the general public about California culture and to promote Spanish-language instruction. In 1902, Maria became part of the faculty at the University of California, becoming possibly the youngest instructor on staff there at the time.

In addition to teaching at the university, Maria became active in the local Votes for Women Club, and in 1911, she was elected President of the College Equal Suffrage League. She translated information about the suffrage movement into Spanish in order to marshal support for the movement in the Hispanic community. She traveled throughout Southern California, distributing suffrage posters and literature and giving speeches, all in Spanish. In addition, she wrote a persuasive opinion piece published in the Los Angeles Herald on Aug. 20, 1911, which advanced the argument that California could not call itself a democracy while disenfranchising half its citizens. Happily, California passed a suffrage proposition on Oct. 10, 1911, becoming the sixth state in the nation to grant the right to vote to women, nine years before the passage of the 19th Amendment.

During World War I, Maria left her teaching position to support the war effort. She relocated to New York City, where she took courses in auto mechanics and flying. Then she traveled to France, where she served as an ambulance driver. While there, the hospital where Maria and three other women were stationed was bombarded by enemy fire, and the four worked all night carrying wounded soldiers to safety. The French government honored the four women for their bravery in 1918.

Maria passed away on Nov. 20, 1977, in Orange, California. This intrepid Chalkboard Champion is buried at San Gabriel Christian Church in Los Angeles.

Teacher Charlotte Forten Grimke: A Civil War heroine

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Here is a short video below by author and retired teacher Terry Lee Marzell. She describes a remarkable Civil War-era teacher, Charlotte Forten Grimke. This Chalkboard champion, born into a free Black family, went to the South to teach emancipated slaves, even though the Civil War was raging all around her. Watch to learn more: