Paul Zindel: High school chemistry teacher and celebrated author
Many fine educators distinguish themselves in other fields. Such is the case with Paul Zindel, a high school chemistry teacher who is also a celebrated author and playwright.
Paul was born on May 15, 1936 in Tottenville, on Staten Island in New York. His father was a policeman, and his mother was a nurse. When Paul was still a child, his father abandoned his family, and his mother struggled to support the family alone. It was, by his own account, a difficult childhood.
Upon his high school graduation, Paul enrolled in Wagner College on Staten Island. Although he majored in chemistry, he took a creative writing course from celebrated playwright Edward Albee. Albee encouraged and nurtured Paul’s writing talent.
After Paul earned his college degree, he accepted a position as a technical writer for Allied Chemical. He was employed there for six months, but did not enjoy the work. Pursuing a passion for helping young people, Paul decided to go into teaching. For the next ten years, he taught chemistry and physics at Tottenville High School.
While still teaching, Paul wrote the book he is probably most famous for, The Pigman (1968). It was so successful that in 1969 he left teaching to write full-time. “I felt I could do more for teenagers by writing for them,” Paul once explained. “I started reading some young adult books, and what I saw in most of them had no connection to the teenagers I knew. I thought I knew what kids would want in a book, so I made a list and followed it,” he continued. “I try to show teens they aren’t alone. I believe I must convince my readers that I am on their side; I know it’s a continuous battle to get through the years between twelve and twenty — an abrasive time. And so I write always from their own point of view,” he concluded.
Paul’s other signature work includes The Effect of Gamma Rays on the Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, which received an Obie Award in 1970 for best American play. He garnered a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1971.
Sadly, Paul contracted lung cancer and passed away on March 27, 2003. He is interred in Moravian Cemetery in Staten Island.
To learn more about this extraordinary educator and author, visit his website at www.paulzindel.com.
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Former high school coach Mark Trakh now leads USC women’s basketball team
There are many examples of classroom teachers who have also shared their considerable talents as athletic coaches. This is the case with Mark Ozeir Trakh, a former high school English teacher who currently serves as the women’s head basketball coach for the University of Southern Califonia (USC).
Mark was born May 31, 1955, in Amman, Jordan. When he was only four years old, his family immigrated to the United Sates and settled in the northeast part of the country. After he graduated from Lakeland Regional High School in Wanaque, New Jersey, Mark enrolled in Fairleigh Dickinson University. Upon moving to California in 1977, Mark enrolled first at Fullerton College, where he majored in journalism, and then in 1981 he earned his teaching credential at California State University, Long Beach.
Even before earning his teaching credential, Mark began his career as a stellar basketball coach. While still in high school, he coached junior high and youth basketball. He coached boys sophomore basketball at Western High School in Anaheim from 1979-1980. After earning his degree and credential, he accepted a position at Brea Olinda High School in Brea. He worked there as an English teacher and girls varsity basketball coach from 1980-1993. Inheriting a program that had won only four games in the previous two seasons, Mark led the team to a 354–45 overall record. During this time his girls garnered four state titles (1989, 1991, 1992, and 1993), six CIF Southern Section Championships, and twelve Orange League crowns. During his tenure there Mark was honored as a California State High School Coach of the Year. He is also a member of both the City of Brea Athletic Hall of Fame and the Southern California High School Basketball Coaches’ Hall of Fame.
Mark currently serves as the head coach for women’s basketball at the USC, after stints as a coach at Pepperdine (1993-2004), USC (2004-2009), and New Mexico State (2011-2017).
To learn more about this amazing Chalkboard Champion, click on this link: Mark Trakh.
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Chalkboard Champion Josephine Heard: Teacher and Poet
Many talented educators often become celebrated authors. Such is the case with Josephine Delphine Henderson Heard, an early 19th century schoolteacher who taught in Mayesville, South Carolina.
Josephine was born in Salisbury, North Carolina, on October 11, 1861, just after the outbreak of the Civil War. Her parents, Lafayette and Annie Henderson, were slaves. After the war was won and the Emancipation achieved, the Hendersons worked hard to ensure a quality education for their daughter. Josephine, who could read by the age of five, started school in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was later enrolled in historically black Scotia Seminary in nearby Concord. To earn her college degree, she attended college at Bethany Institute in upstate New York. Upon graduation, Josephine accepted her first teaching position at the elementary school located in Mayesville, South Carolina.
In 1882, when the young educator was 21, she married William Henry Heard from Georgia, also a teacher and a former slave. Later William became a prominent minister in the AME Church. The pair traveled the world together, including Liberia, as part of his work for the church.
In addition to being a dedicated teacher, Josephine was also a gifted poet. In 1890, she published her book Morning Glories, a collection of 72 poems. Her book is currently in the public domain, and can be accessed online through the Hathi Trust at Morning Glories. Although Josephine passed away in Philadelphia in 1921, her spirit lives on in her poetry. To learn more about this amazing teacher, click on this link: AAWW Biographies.
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Sas Carey: International health educator and 2nd grade teacher
One of the most amazing chalkboard champions I have heard of is Sas Carey, a former elementary school teacher with a degree in nursing who has worked as an international health education consultant.
Sas, born in Washington state in 1945, possesses an impressive educational background. She studied at Western Connecticut University and at Keen State College, where she earned her degree in elementary education in 1965. She then taught 2nd grade at Weybridge Elementary School in Vermont.
As interested in medicine as she was in education, Sas returned to school, earning a Bachelor’s in Science, Nursing, at the University of Vermont in 1983. She also earned her Master’s in Education in 1988.
Dedicated to improving the lives of others internationally, Sas has worked as a health education consultant for the Mongolian office of the United Nations Development Programme. She also founded the nonprofit Nomadicare, which provides health services to nomadic herders in Mongolia. Her book Reindeer Herders in My Heart: Stories of Healing Journeys in Mongolia, describes some of her experiences in Mongolia. Additionally, you can check out her fascinating videos on You Tube.
Sas has invested her considerable talent in helping youth. She founded the Alternatives for Teens program, where young people are given opportunities to discuss issues important to them. The program organizes group events that offer alternatives to drug and alcohol use. The organization earned an Exemplary Prevention Program Award from the US Department of Health and Human Services. In 1989, Sas authored the book Life Skills for Teens (currently out of print).
Sas Carey, now in her early 70’s, has accomplished so much in her life. She traces her drive to her Quaker upbringing. “As a Quaker,” she once said, “you listen for your calling for what you’re supposed to do. And it’s a changing kind of thing. You do a thing ’til you’re done with it. Then you do the next thing ’til you’re done with it.”
