Horror fiction is an unusual genre for a woman author, but Georgia teacher Kristi DeMeester is good at it

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Kristi DeMeester, a high school English teacher from Georgia, has achieved success as an author of horror fiction, an unusual genre for women authors. Photo credit: Kristi DeMeester

There are many outstanding teachers who have earned acclaim in fields outside of the classroom. One of these is Kristi DeMeester, a high school English teacher from Georgia who has also achieved success as an author of horror fiction, an unusual genre for women authors.

Kristi has taught grades 9 through 12 at Roswell High School in Fulton County, Georgia. In addition to teaching, she has served her school as the yearbook advisor and an assistant JV Volleyball coach.

A voracious reader herself, Kristi encourages her students to read, too. “I do feel that young people should read whatever they like without the fear of being shamed for what they are reading or told it’s beneath them or too smutty or too silly,” she says. “But I do think all young people should experience a book that moves them deeply and teaches them something about the world that exists outside of themselves,” she continues.

Kristi has published an impressive list of novels and short stories in the horror genre. Her novels include Beneath, published in 2017, and Such a Pretty Smile, published in 2022. She has also published two short story collections. The first is Split Tongues, published in 2016, and the second is Everything That’s Underneath, published in 2017. Her short fiction has appeared in Ellen Datlow’s The Year’s Best Horror Volume 9, Year’s Best Weird Fiction Volumes 1 and 3, and in publications such as Pseudopod, The Dark, Black Static, and others.

This talented educator and author earned her Bachelor’s degree in Secondary English Education and her Master’s degree in Professional Writing from Kennesaw State University.

Morgan Rankin named Tennessee State Teacher of the Year

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Second grade teacher Morgan Rankin has been named the 2022 Tennessee State Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: WJHL

It is always a pleasure to share stories about outstanding educators who have earned recognition for their work. One of these is Morgan Rankin, who has been named the 2022 Tennessee State Teacher of the Year.

Morgan teaches second grade at South Side Elementary School in Johnson City. She has worked at the school for seven years. She came to Tennessee in 2014 from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, where she taught kindergarten.

“I’m always looking for those hands-on ways that are gonna get those kids excited and hooked in the learning,” revealed Morgan. “Kids by nature are really curious, inquisitive, and often really driven on their own to seek out information. The best part of my job is I get to be a part of steering that in specific directions,” she continued. Morgan encourages her students to be strong readers, to ask questions, and above all else, be kind. “The things we are doing now are shaping them into who they are going to be as adults,” the honored teacher asserts. “I think that is an incredible opportunity.”

In addition to her work in the classroom, Morgan is the founder of South Side School’s Genius Hour, an inquiry-based learning club for students modeled after Google’s 20% Project.

As if all this were not enough, Morgan serves as an active member of the Technology Teacher Leaders in Johnson City Schools. In this role, she mentors other educators on the use of technology in the classroom. She is also is a founding member of the Blue Ridge Literacy Project, a program that delivers professional development in research-based literacy practices to Tennessee teachers. She has been a Technology Teacher Leader in her district since 2016.

Throughout her career as a literacy specialist and elementary educator, Morgan has been committed to instilling a love of reading and inquiry-based learning in all students. She believes that all children can learn and grow academically, socially, and emotionally in a warm and welcoming classroom environment that provides hands-on, student-centered learning.

Teacher Prentice G. Downes: Explorer, cartographer, cultural anthropologist, and writer

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Teacher Prentice G. Downes earned fame as an explorer, cartographer, cultural anthropologist, and writer. Photo credit: canadiangeographic.ca

Many fine educators have distinguished themselves in areas outside the field of education. One was high school teacher Prentice G. Downes, known to his friends by the nickname “Spike.” In addition to his career as an educator, Prentice made a name for himself as an explorer, cartographer, cultural anthropologist, and writer.

Prentice was born 1909 in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of an Episcopal clergyman. After his 1928 graduation from Kent School in Kent, Connecticut, Prentice enrolled at Harvard University. Once he was ready to begin his career as a teacher, he accepted a position at Belmont Hill School, a prestigious New England prep school for boys located in Belmont, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston.

Prentice was well-known for hurrying back to class in unkempt condition each fall. Between 1936 and 1947, the native of Concord, Massachusetts, made several summer-long expeditions into the sprawling uncharted wilderness of subarctic Canada. Working on a shoestring budget, Prentice would round up a canoe, gear, food, and a local traveling associate. Then he would set out for the great unknown. He was notorious for cutting trips close to the wire, rushing back to Boston bearded, tanned, and garbed in threadbare bush clothes just in time for the beginning of school.

This intrepid teacher traveled by canoe to explore subarctic areas in the Great Barren Lands and learn about the lifestyles of the Native American tribes. During his travels, Prentice kept extensive journals recording a disappearing people and a landscape unknown to all but the Canadian natives at that time. He recorded not only daily events, but also the stories and traditions of the peoples he encountered, particularly people of the Cree and Dene tribes.

In 1939, Prentice traveled from the Brabant Lake area to the Cochrane River, starting at the town of Brochet on Reindeer Lake. Without the aid of maps, the intrepid teacher relied completely on local legend to find his way to the Thlewiaza River and his final destination, the Hudson Bay outpost on Nueltin Lake. Based on this trip, Prentice wrote the travelogue Sleeping Island: The Story of One Man’s Travels in the Great Barren Lands of the Canadian North. First published in 1943, this classic adventure story received a stellar review from the New York Times for its engaging descriptions of the expedition across a rugged landscape of lakes and rivers in northern Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and present-day Nunavut. Besides the polished and captivating writing style, Sleeping Island stands out because it documented ways of life that no longer exist.

In his later years, Prentice delivered lectures about his travels for Harvard’s Institute of Geographical Exploration. Additionally, he was commissioned by the US government to map portions of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. He also became a member of the prestigious Royal Geographical Society.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away in 1959 at the young age of 50.

Ohio music teacher Hortense Parker Gilliam first Black graduate of Mount Holyoke Female Seminary

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Hortense Parker Gilliam, a music teacher originally from Ohio, was the first known African American graduate of Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. Photo credit: Mount Holyoke

Throughout history, our lives have been genuinely enriched by legions of music teachers who have nurtured the love of music in young people. One such music teacher was Hortense Parker Gilliam, an elementary school music teacher who is the first known African American graduate of Mount Holyoke Female Seminary.

Hortense Parker was born in Ripley, Ohio, in 1859, the fourth of six children born to John Parker and Miranda (Boulden) Parker, a free black couple. Her mother was born free in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her father was born into slavery, but in 1845 he was able to buy his freedom. John Parker became a noted abolitionist, inventor, and industrialist. Before the outbreak of the Civil War, John guided hundreds of slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad. In fact, the Parker home has been renovated and is now designated a National Historic Landmark.

Hortense’s parents were determined that all of their children should get an education. As children, Hortense and her two younger sisters received a standard education in traditional subjects. They also studied music. After her high school graduation in 1878, Hortense enrolled in Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, now known as Mount Holyoke College, in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Her expenses were paid by a wealthy patron. The institution did not know she was a woman of color until she arrived on campus, but they did not cast her out. On the contrary, Hortense lived on campus in a dormitory along with 250 other students. Unlike many institutions of her day, Mt. Holyoke did not require its Black students to live off campus. Hortense was remembered by her classmates as “a quiet ladylike girl, noted especially for her musical ability.” Because of her exceptional musical abilities, faculty and fellow students alike often asked her to play the piano in the seminary in the evenings after classes were done. She had aspirations to continue her music education in Europe upon her graduation, but unfortunately her patron passed away during her senior year. She graduated in 1883.

After graduating from college, Hortense taught music and piano at Lincoln Elementary School in Kansas City, Missouri, from 1906-1913. That same year she married James Marcus Gilliam, a graduate of Cornell University, and moved with him to St. Louis, where she taught music. During her long career, she also taught music at schools in New York and Indiana.

As the first African-American graduate of Mt. Holyoke, Hortense was featured in Our Path: Students of Color at Mt. Holyoke at the 2007 Alumnae Student Conference there.

Sadly, this Chalkboard Champion passed away on December 9, 1938, near St. Louis, Missouri. She was 79 years old.