Dr. Kim Lawe: Educator and escapee from Communist Viet Nam

Posted on by

Kim Lawe, former  science educator and STEM school principal, now works for the Riverside County Office of Education in Riverside, California. Photo credit: Azusa Pacific University.

Here is the inspirational story of a very amazing educator, Dr. Kim Lawe. I worked with her at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Eastvale, California, before I retired from the teaching profession in 2017. In the brief video below, Dr. Lawe shares a story about her family’s escape by boat from Communist Viet Nam following the fall of Saigon, and how she eventually grew up to become a teacher in the United States.

From her humble beginnings, Kim went through American schools, eventually earning her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Redlands University in Redlands, California. She earned her Master’s degree in Curriculum and Design from California Polytechnic University in Pomona, California. She completed the requirements for her Ph.D. at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California. She inaugurated her career in education as a science teacher, eventually becoming the principal of the STEM academy in the Corona Norco Unified School District in Corona, California. Recently she accepted a position in the Riverside County Office of Education in Riverside, California.

“Our family’s journey from Vietnam to the US succeeded because of my father’s diligent planning, and because everyone shared a vision of where we were going and what we needed to do to get there,” Kim asserts. Now a leader in secondary education, this amazing Chalkboard Champion applies that same mindset to create a common mission among the faculty, staff, and students she serves, knowing that collective purpose put into action can achieve mighty things. “My history is a testament to that,” she declares. “I want them to know that together we can beat the odds and rise to the occasion, no matter the challenges.”

To read more about Dr. Kim Lawe. read this profile of her published by Azusa Pacific University.

Alaska’s Native American teacher John “Wolf Smeller” Fredson

Posted on by

Alaska’s Native American teacher and pioneer John “Wolf Smeller” Fredson workded tirelessly for the Neetsaii Gwich’in people of the Yukoi, Photo credit: US National Park Service.

Often dedicated teachers commit themselves to the important social causes of their day. This is true of Alaska’s John “Wolf Smeller” Fredson, a Native American educator and hospital worker who labored tirelessly on behalf of the Neetsaii Gwich’in people of the Yukon.

John was born in 1896 near Table Mountain by the Sheenjek River watershed in the Yukon. He grew up speaking Gwich’in as his first language. His Gwich’in name is Zhoh Gwatson, which translated means “Wolf Smeller.” Orphaned at a young age, John attended a mission school operated by the Episcopal church.

As a youngster, John became exceptionally skilled in climbing, hunting, and following trails. At age 14, he became a member of a 1913 expedition that climbed Mount Denali, the highest peak in North America. For this expedition Johnny served as the base camp manager. While the older men climbed, John  remained at the base camp for 31 days by himself, feeding himself by hunting caribou and sheep. The young boy’s experiences are documented in the book Ascent of Denali by Archdeacon Hudson Stuck, another member of the expedition.

With the Archdeacon’s encouragement, John decided to continue his education beyond elementary school, becoming the first native of Athabascan descent to complete high school. He earned a scholarship to attend Sewanee, the University of the South, an Episcopal college located in Tennessee. He was the first Alaska native to graduate from a university. While there, John worked with renowned linguist Edward Sapir to classify Gwich’in as part of the Na-Dene language family. This work is documented in the book John Fredson Edward Sapir Ha’a Googwandak (1982).

After he graduated from college, John served his country in the US military. When he was discharged, he returned to Alaska, where he worked at a hospital in Fort Yukon. In his later years, he built a solarium for Native American tuberculosis patients. At that time, his facility was the only hospital in the far north, and was utilized by many native Alaskan patients, primarily from the Gwich’in tribe. Most of these patients suffered from communicable diseases introduced by Europeans and Asians to which the natives had no immunity.

John also taught school in the village of Venetie, instructing his students how to grow household gardens in a community that had previously supported themselves through hunting. In Venetie John became a tribal leader and worked to establish Native Alaskan rights to traditional lands. He was the primary founder of the Venetie Indian Reserve, the largest reservation in Alaska, which earned federal recognition in 1941, before Alaska was admitted to the Union as a state. The reserve was approximately 1.4 million acres at the time of its establishment. On this reserve the John Fredson School of Yukon Flats has been named in his honor, and the school remains there to this day.

All his life, John “Wolf Smeller” Fredson was a Native American rights activist, writer, hunter, skilled debater, musician, artist, and more. He is said to have lived his life with integrity, passion, and a great sense of humor. He always exhibited a great love for the land and for his people, and he made many significant contributions to his tribe in his relatively short life.

Alas, this Chalkboard Champion died of pneumonia on August 22, 1945.

Remembering Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher in space

Posted on by
Christa McAuliffe

New Hampshire history teacher Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher in space, was lost during the launch of the space shuttle Challenger on January 26, 1986. Photo credit: NASA.

One of the saddest days of my teaching career was the day our nation lost the first educator to go into space, New Hampshire history teacher Christa McAuliffe. In only my fifth year of teaching, I was so proud that a fellow teacher had been selected as the first civilian in space. I was more than a little star-struck by the professionalism, intelligence, and infectious enthusiasm of the chosen candidate, who was selected from among 11,000 other highly-qualified applicants.

Christa was born on Sept. 2, 1948, in Boston, Massachusetts. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Education and History from Framingham State College in 1970, and her Master’s degree in Bowie State University in 1978.

During her mission in space, Christa planned to write a journal of her experiences as an astronaut from the perspective that even an ordinary citizen can take center stage in the making of history. She was to have been the perfect example of that. In addition, the intrepid educator was scheduled to perform lessons and simple scientific experiments aboard the space shuttle which would be viewed by students in classrooms all over America.

Tragically, Christa was one of seven astronauts killed when the space shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, just 73 seconds after lift-off. The journal she never got to finish was replaced by A Journal for Christa: Christa McAuliffe, Teacher in Space, written by Grace George Corrigan, Christa’s grief-stricken mother. This book is a tender tribute to an extraordinary teacher. A Journal for Christa can be ordered form amazon. I have also included a chapter about Christa McAuliffe in my second book, Chalkboard Heroes: Twelve Courageous Teachers and their Deeds of Valor, also available on amazon.

Pre-school teacher Keli Baker of Ohio succumbs to Covid-19

Posted on by

Sadly, pre-school teacher Keli Baker of Napoleon, Ohio, has succumbed to Covid-19. She passed away on Feb. 16, 2021. Photo credit: Napoleon Elementary School.

Sadly, the life of yet another beloved educator has been claimed by Covid-19. Keli Renee Baker, a pre-school teacher fro Napoleon, Ohio, succumbed to the disease on February 16, 2021. She was just 36 years old.

Keli was born on August 5, 1984, in Napoleon. As a young woman, she attended Napoleon High School, where she received her diploma in 2003. After high school, she enrolled at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Development in 2008. At the time of her passing, she was working on a credential as an Intervention Specialist.

After earning her degree, Keli worked at Head Start, Defiance. After a couple of years, she accepted a position as a pre-school teacher at Napoleon Elementary School District. In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Keli served as the fifth-grade volleyball coach and as the President of the Parent Teacher Organization. She also coached recreational and travel volleyball and softball teams in her community.

This hardworking teacher was also the mother of two daughters. She encouraged her daughters to engage in many physical activities, including gymnastics, basketball, swim, dance, 4H, and civic theater. She was also an avid supporter of the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Cleveland Browns.

Keli passed away unexpectedly on Feb. 16, 2021, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Maumee, Ohio. The educator will be greatly missed throughout her school community. “She was always supportive of all things Napoleon and especially all of the Napoleon students,” expressed Superintendent Erik Belcher. “The impact Mrs. Baker has had on our Napoleon community is wide reaching and will be remembered by all.”

To read more about Kelli, click on this link to her obituary published by Rodenberger-Gray Funeral Home.

Ethel Cuff Black: Suffragist and pioneering Black teacher

Posted on by

Social Studies educator Ethel Cuff Black was an active suffragist and the first African American public school teacher in Rochester, New York. Photo credit: Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Many talented educators earn notoriety for fields of endeavor outside of the classroom. One of these was Ethel Cuff Black. She became an active suffragist, and broke barriers when she became the first African American teacher in Rochester, New York.

Ethel Cuff Black was born in 1890 in Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware. Her father was a prominent banker, and her maternal grandfather was a Civil War Veteran. As a young woman, Ethel attended Industrial School for Colored Youth in Bordentown, New Jersey. She graduated with the highest grade point average in her class. In 1915, she graduated cum laude with a major in education from Howard University. While she attended Howard, she  chairwoman of the collegiate chapter of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA).

In addition, Ethel is credited with being one of the founding members of the prestigious Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. The organization devoted themselves to social activism and community service. Ethel was elected the sorority’s first Vice President. With her sorority sisters, the future educator attended the group’s first public event, the Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington, DC, in March of 1913. Prominent suffragist Mary Church Terrell had argued vigorously on behalf of the Deltas to win them a place in the parade, where they were the only African American organization to participate.

After her college graduation, Ethel became the first African American teacher to work in schools in Rochester, New York. Later she taught social studies in public schools in Oklahoma and Missouri, and she worked at PS 108 in South Ozone Park, New York, where she taught for 27 years. She also served as a faculty member at Delaware State College in Dover before her retirement in 1957.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away on September 17, 1977, at the age of 77. To learn more about her, read the obituary published by the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.