Nebraska teacher Joanne Moldenhauer garnered many awards

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Math educator Joanne Moldenhauer, originally from Nebraska, garnered many accolades for her work in the classroom. Photo credit: Peter McCollough of the Daily Democrat.

I enjoy sharing stories about talented educators who have earned honors for their work in the classroom. One of these was Joanne Moldenhauer, a high school math teacher originally from Omaha, Nebraska.

Joanne was born on March 15, 1928, in Omaha. As a young girl, she attended Benson High School in her home town. In 1949, Joanne earned her Bachelor’s degree in Physics at Iowa State College. Three years later she completed the requirements for her Master’s degree from the University of Minnesota.

Joanne inaugurated her career as an educator when she accepted a position as a math teacher in Omaha. For the next two years she taught mathematics and biology at Central High School in Omaha. She worked for a while for the General Electric company, but by 1955, she was teaching high school math at Central Park Junior High School in Schenectady, New York, and the following year, she was teaching at Davis Senior High School in Davis, California. Her career there spanned 50 years, until her retirement in 2006.

During her years as a teacher in Davis, Joanne won many accolades for her work in the classroom. She garnered the Edyth May Sliffe Award for Distinguished High School Mathematics Teaching from the Mathematical Association of American two times, in 19990 and 2001. Stanford University honored her with their Frederick Emmons Terman Engineering Award, given each year to a distinguished high school teacher from the school’s graduating engineering students. She also earned the Harvey Mudd College Distinguished Teacher Award twice. In 1991, Joanne was one of the two first participants in the Uman-Davis Sister City Teacher Exchange in Ukraine.

This exceptional educator passed away on February 14, 2016. She was 87 years old. Joanne Moldenhauer: a true Chalkboard Champion.

 

Talented teacher and celebrated poet Rosemary Thomas

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There are many talented educators who have also earned acclaim as authors. One of these was Rosemary Thomas, a creative writing instructor who also authored and published excellent poetry.

Rosemary was born on February 16, 1901. As a young woman, she earned her Bachelor’s degree from Smith College in 1923. She earned her Master’s degree from Columbia University in 1950.

Rosemary taught creative writing at a number of prestigious schools, including Spence School and Brearley School in New York. She also taught at the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr in Pennsylvania, and Oxford Schooling Hartford, Connecticut.

The talented educator was also a successful poet. Her poems were published in the New York Times, The New Yorker, and in other distinguished magazines. In 1951, Rosemary garnered the Twayne First Book Contest for her inaugural book of poems, Immediate Sun. The book featured a foreword written by celebrated poet Archibald MacLeish, who described her poems as having “a common quality, a characteristic idiom, and inflection the reader would recognize again as a man recognizes the inflection of a decisive voice.” The volume included a poem about her brother-in-law, Canadian tennis star J. F. Foulkes, entitled The Colonel. A second collection of Rosemary’s poems entitled Selected Poems of Rosemary Thomas was published posthumously in 1968.

Rosemary passed away on April 7, 1961, in New York City. In her honor, the English Language and Literature Department at her alma mater, Smith College, awards the Rosemary Thomas Poetry Prize each year to the best poem or group of poems.

Retired teacher Ruth Rowan serves in the WVa House of Delegates

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Retired elementary school teacher Ruth Rowan works tirelessly as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates. Photo credit: Vote Smart.

Many hardworking educators find second careers as politicians. One of these was Ruth Rowan, a retired elementary school teacher from Hampshire County, West Virginia, who also served in her state’s House of Delegates.

Ruth was born on September 12, 1948, in Pennsylvania. Her grandfather was a coal miner. Ruth’s ancestry runs deep in West Virginia. As a descendant of Frontier Ranger Doctor Llewellyn, her earliest forebears blazed a trail in the wilderness near the Forks of Cheat River in present-day Monongalia County, West Virginia.

As a young woman, she earned her Bachelor’s degree from California University of Pennsylvania and her Master’s degree in Education from West Virginia University.

One she earned her education, Ruth taught elementary school in Hampshire County Schools. She also joined the West Virginia Education Association and the National Education Association. In addition, Ruth is a member of the Board of Directors for the West Virginia Children’s Home Society and the Family Crisis Center.

In 2004, Ruth was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates on the Republican ticket. She defeated the embattled House Delegate Jerry Mezzatesta for his seat after he was embroiled in a political scandal in 2003 and 2004. The former teacher has represented the 57th District since December 1, 2004, and her term of office is due to expire in 2022. As a member of the WV House, Ruth works tirelessly on legislation to benefit children, education, seniors, veterans, health care, and infrastructure. She serves on the Education, Health and Human Resources, and the Senior Issues committees. She is the minority chair of Veteran’s Affairs, minority vice chair of women’s caucus, co-chair of Crimes against children and children and families.

To read more about Ruth Rowan, see this information provided by Vote Smart.

Remembering math teacher and Civil Rights leader Bob Moses

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Math educator and legendary Civil Rights Movement leader Bob Moses organized Black voter-registration efforts and the Freedom Schools made famous during the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer. Photo credit: The Pine Belt News

With sadness, we report the passing of legendary Civil Rights leader Robert “Bob” Moses. He died in Florida on Sunday, July 25, 2021, at the age of 86.

The Chalkboard Hero was born in New York City on January 23, 1935, to a family of modest means. He was raised in the Projects in Harlem. Despite his family’s limited financial resources, Bob earned a scholarship to attend Stuyvesant High School, an elite public high school for gifted boys. Before his graduation in 91952, Bob was elected senior class president and served as the captain of the school’s baseball team.

Upon graduation, Bob earned another scholarship, this time to attend Hamilton College, a prestigious private liberal arts college in Clinton, New York. There he majored in philosophy and participated in both the basketball and baseball programs. After completing the requirements for his Bachelor’s degree in 1956, Bob traveled abroad extensively, workin in a series of Quaker summer camps in Europe and Japan building housing for the poor, harvesting crops for a missionary hospital, and improving facilities for mentally disturbed children. The following year he earned his Master’s degree in Analytic Philosophy from Harvard University.

Bob was teaching at the prestigious Horace Mann High School in the Bronx when he became aware of the student sit-ins that were taking place in Greensboro, North Carolina. He decided to join them, and that decision launched the math educator’s path towards becoming a legendary figure during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. Bob is best known for organizing the Black voter-registration efforts and the Freedom Schools made famous during the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer. This heroic teacher’s revolutionary work, which was not without risk to life and limb, transformed the political power structure of entire communities.

Forty years later, Bob advocated for yet another transformational change: the Algebra Project. When he created this program, Bob asserted that a deficiency in math literacy in poor neighborhoods puts impoverished children at an economic disadvantage. The deficiency makes students unable to compete successfully for jobs in the 21st century. This disenfranchisement, he declared, is as debilitating as lack of personal liberties was prior to the Civil Rights Movement. Bob’s solution was to organize people, community by community, school by school, to overcome the achievement gap. He believed this would give impoverished children the tools they need to claim their share of economic enfranchisement.

Bob described his philosophy in depth in his  book, Radical Equations: Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project written with fellow Civil Rights worker Charles E. Cobb, Jr. The volume can be found easily and reasonably-priced on amazon. A fascinating read for anyone who is interested in the former Civil Rights leader’s story, either past or present. A chapter about this remarkable teacher is also included in my second book, entitled Chalkboard Heroes: Twelve Courageous Teachers and Their Deeds of Valor.  This book is also available on amazon; click on this link to view: Chalkboard Heroes.

Florida’s Braulio Alonso: Teacher, NEA President, and veteran

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Florida teacher, NEA President, and US Army veteran Braulio Alonso. Photo credit: Jefferson High School.

When we think about Chalkboard Heroes, one name that immediately comes to mind is Braulio Alonso. This distinguished educator and World War II veteran can boast of numerous accomplishments during his lifetime.

Born in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, in 1916, the son of impoverished cigar makers, Braulio graduated as the valedictorian of his class from Hillsborough High School in 1935. He was also the valedictorian of his college class when he graduated from the University of Tampa in 1939.

Braulio began his teaching career as an instructor of physics and chemistry courses at Henry B. Plant High School in Tampa, but when World War II erupted, Braulio became part of the United States Army in 1941. He was immediately sent to officer candidate school, and later he became part of the 85th Infantry Division in North Africa. The teacher-soldier was promoted to Battery Commander for the 328th Artillery Battalion, taking an active part in the Italian campaign. He was among the first Allied soldiers to liberate Rome. By the time he was discharged from the service, Braulio had earned a Bronze Star with Cluster and a Purple Heart.

After the war, Braulio continued his career as an educator. He was named the Director of Adult Education and headed an on-the-job training program for returning veterans. He also taught classes and served as a principal at several schools, including West Tampa Junior High, Jefferson High School, and C. Leon King High School.

Always intent upon improving the quality of education, Braulio became the president of his local teachers’ union, eventually becoming the president of the Florida Education Association, where he led the drive to integrate the organization. In 1967, he was elected the president of the National Education Association, the first Hispanic to hold that office. While NEA president, Braulio worked to persuade teacher organizations throughout Europe to join with NEA for an international conference to combat racism, anti-Semitism and apartheid, and served as its secretary. In 1966 he became an international figure when he was asked to mediate a dispute among teacher organizations and the Bolivian government. This was the first of many missions to mediate disputes, including efforts in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Brazil, the Ivory Coast, Kenya, and Ghana.

This remarkable Chalkboard Hero passed away of natural causes in 2010. He will be missed, but certainly not forgotten.