Chalkboard Champion Elsa Salazar Cade

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$RADTRSAElsa Salazar Cade, a Mexican American educator and entomologist, was born in 1952 and raised in the Lone Star State of Texas. After earning her bachelor’s degree in science education from the University of Texas, Austin, she was employed for two years as a fourth grade teacher, and for two years as a reading and remedial math teacher. When she completed her master’s degree in public school administration from Niagara University, she continued her career as a junior high school science educator in the public school system in Buffalo, New York.
Elsa, who has been named one of the ten best science teachers in the United States by the National Science Teachers Association, is credited for developing an award-winning interactive science curriculum. She has also served on the staff of the Buffalo Research Institute on Teaching for Education.
Elsa and her husband, Dr. Bill Cade, have also been honored for their humanitarian efforts, raising money to provide shelter and life-saving equipment to benefit Haitian disaster survivors. Elsa Salazar Cade is truly one the country’s most illustrious chalkboard champions.

 

Margaret Hamilton: A Wickedly Wonderful Chalkboard Champion

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$RCMXYF2Not many people would recognize the name or photograph of actress Margaret Hamilton, but just about everyone knows the iconic movie roll she played. Bedecked in green make-up and black pointed hat, this pleasant face was the Wicked Witch of the West in MGM’s version of The Wizard of Oz. It’s ironic that this very sweet and loving former kindergarten teacher is best known for her her frightful disposition and her villainous behaviors, not to mention for scaring the daylights out of generations of little children. The true Margaret Hamilton was a lifelong advocate for educational causes, devoting much of her energy and money to benefit causes that improved the lives of children and animals. She passed away in 1985 at the age of 83.

Susan B. Anthony: She Championed Women’s Suffrage

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$RYP0T1EMany people are familiar with Susan B. Anthony, a tireless champion for women’s suffrage who lived during the nineteenth century. Her political accomplishments are legendary. But did you know that this American civil rights champion was also a schoolteacher?

Beginning in 1939, Susan taught first at Eunice Kenyon’s Friends’ Seminary in New Rochelle, New York, and then at Canajoharie Academy in Canajoharie, New York. She left the profession in 1849 to devote her energy full-time to the women’s suffrage movement.

Although she did not live to see the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote, this historical achievement would not have been possible without Susan B. Anthony’s many years of devotion to the cause. You just know that someone who worked that hard for women’s rights worked equally diligently in the classroom.

Recognizing Chalkboard Athlete Frank Eufemia

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$R7CXWEVRecognizing the value of making a contribution to the field of education, sometimes a professional athlete will become a teacher after they leave the game. This is true of major league baseball player Frank Eufemia.

Frank was born in 1959 in the Bronx, New York. He was drafted as a relief pitcher for the Minnesota Twins during the 1985 season. Frank finished the season with a record of 4 wins, two losses, an earned run average of 3.79, and thirty strike-outs.

This chalkboard athlete currently teaches physical education and health and coaches baseball at Pascack Hills High School in Montvale, New Jersey.

Olive Mann Isbell: The Chalkboard Champion of Mission Santa Clara

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9781609496753_7b4ce5298022970d448371e911f0d532[1][1]A little-known figure in California history is educator Olive Mann Isbell, who is credited as being the first teacher in California. In 1846, when Olive was only 22 years old, she and her husband, Dr. Isaac Isbell, traveled west by wagon train. The territory had recently been severed from Mexico, and the Isbells arrived just as the Mexican army was poised to attack in an attempt to reclaim the land.

Olive and over two hundred American women and children were barricaded inside Mission Santa Clara de Asis, while the men were quickly drafted to defend the dilapidated fort. Inside the shelter, Olive, sensing the anxiety of the children, decided to organize a school to occupy their attention. The newly-arrived pioneer was well-suited to this work, being the niece of the famous educator Horace Mann and an experienced teacher from her home state of Ohio. When  Mexico finally laid down their arms and signed a truce with the United States on January 3, 1847, Olive’s Santa Clara Mission School became recognized as the first American school on California soil.

You can read more about this amazing educator in Women Trailblazers of California: Pioneers to the Present, available on amazon.