Teacher Tim Staples killed during a search and rescue mission for a lost hiker

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Chalkboard Hero Tim Staples, tragically killed on Sat., Dec. 14, during a search and rescue mission for a lost hiker.

When the community is in desperate need of volunteers, it is often the teachers who respond. They often give their all to help wherever they are needed. This is certainly true of Tim Staples, a beloved Social Studies and English teacher from La Verne, California. This Chalkboard Hero tragically lost his life on Sat., Dec. 14 while conducting a search and rescue mission for a lost hiker.

Tim volunteered for the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department search and rescue team for nine years. His lifeless body was found on Saturday night at the bottom of an ice chute. It is believe his death was the result of a bad fall in the snow and ice. The accident occurred while Tim and 125 other volunteers were searching Mt. Baldy for Sree Mokkapati of Ivine, who went missing in the area a week ago. The conditions under which this search was conducted were described as extremely dangerous.

The intrepid educator taught Social Studies and English at Damien High School, an all-boys Catholic school in La Verne. Tim also coached track and was an avid supporter of the debate team. Prior to his two and a half years at the Damien, Tim taught for five and a half years at St Lucy’s Priory High School in Glendora, California.

To read more about this chalkboard hero, read this article published by the Los Angeles Daily News.

Spanish teacher Jessica Crawford offers inspiration

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Here’s your weekly dose of inspiration, provided by Jessica Crawford, a Spanish teacher at Horizon Middle School in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “I look forward to coming to work every single day, because I get to work with these great, amazing, talented kids,” says Jessica.

Georgia’s Laura Ross named School Counselor of the Year

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Georgia’s Laura Ross named School Counselor of the Year by the American School Counselor Association.

Today we send congratulations out to Laura Ross, a school counselor at Five Forks Middle School in Lawrenceville, Georgia. She’s been named the 2020 School Counselor of the Year by the American School Counselor Association.

Laura earned her degree at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. In fact, she has three degrees: A Bachelor’s in Social Work, a Master’s in Social Work, and a degree as an Educational Specialist in Professional School Counseling. In a career that has spanned nine years, she has spent the last five of them at Five Forks. Five Forks is part of the Gwinnet County Public School District.

“Laura is a true hero when it comes to helping us grow as a school in building relationships with our students,” remarked Christine Douthart, Principal of Five Forks Middle School. “She is a school counselor who has the best interest of students at the heart of everything she does.”

This amazing school counselor serves as a trainer for the Dove Self-Esteem Project. She facilitates presentations to educators about body confidence for teenagers. She has also spearheaded a movement to provide acceptance and support for her students in the LGBTQ community. To this end, she became a founding sponsor of her school’s first Gay/Straight Alliance.

The School Counselor of the Year Award honors professionals who devote their careers to advocating for the nation’s students. These Chalkboard Champions devote themselves to addressing students’ academic, social, and emotional development, and their college and career readiness needs.

To read more about Laura, click on this link to the American School Counselor Association.

Beloved actor Andy Griffith once taught music and drama

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Beloved television actor Andy Griffith once taught high school music and drama in North Carolina. Photo credit: Historic Images

Many people are familiar with the beloved television actor Andy Griffith. He starred as the affable sheriff Andy Taylor on the 1960’s series the Andy Griffith Show. Later, he starred as the curmudgeonly lawyer Ben Matlock on the legal drama show Matlock. But did you know that before his career as an actor, Andy Griffith taught high school music and drama?

Andy was born on June 1, 1926, in Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina. He was the only child of Carl and Geneva Griffith. Carl was a furniture carpenter, and Geneva was a homemaker. Even as a child, Andy was aware that he lived on “the wrong side of the tracks.” He was a shy and introverted child, but he soon learned how to make his classmates laugh, and that helped him to gain self-confidence.

As a young man, Andy harbored hopes of becoming an opera singer. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Music at the University of North Carolina in 1949. Once he earned his degree, he taught at Goldsboro High School in North Carolina. His career there spanned three years.

Andy, who was so good at so many things, once confessed that he didn’t think he was a very good teacher. “First day, I’d tell the class all I knew, and there was nothing left to say for the rest of the semester,” he once told The New York Times.

To read more about Andy Griffith, consult this obituary published by the New York Times in 2012.