Tag Archives: Business Teachers

Former First Lady Pat Nixon was once a Business Teacher

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Pat Nixon: The high school business teacher from Whittier, California, who became our nation’s 37th First Lady. She served from 1969 to 1974. Photo Credit: US National Archives

Many well-known political personalities were once schoolteachers. One of these is Pat Nixon, who served as our nation’s First Lady from 1969 to 1974. She was employed during the 1930s as a business teacher at Whittier Union High School in Whittier, California. In fact, Pat was working as an educator when she met her future husband, a young and ambitious city attorney named Richard Nixon.

Pat Ryan Nixon was born into a family of farmers on March 16, 1912, in Ely, Nevada. She grew up in a rural community now known Cerritos, California. Her mother died of cancer in 1924, when Pat was only 12 years old. After her mother’s death, the young girl kept house for her father and two older brothers, William, Jr., and Thomas. It was a big responsibility for such a young girl.

In spite of her challenges, Pat graduated from Excelsior High School in 1929, and then worked her way through college working a variety of odd jobs. These jobs included retail sales, pharmacy manager, typist, and telephone operator. After her high school graduation, she first attended Fullerton Junior College in Fullerton, California, and then transferred to the University of Southern California, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Merchandising, cum laude, in 1937.

In her first year of teaching, Pat Nixon earned only $180 a month, a princely sum considering the poverty in which she grew up. A pretty and popular teacher, the former Miss Ryan instructed courses in typing, bookkeeping, business principles, and stenography. On her performance evaluations, her supervisors wrote that she had a “splendid attitude toward young people,” they praised her ability to get “good results from them.” She was highly respected for her careful balance of friendliness, high expectations, and strict classsroom discipline. Her students remembered her fondly, writes daughter Julie Nixon Eisenhower in a detailed and personal biography published in 1986. The book is called Pat Nixon: the Untold Story, and is available on amazon.com.

In the political arena, Pat served her country as the wife of the Vice President from 1953 to 1961, and then as First Lady during her husband’s presidency, which spanned the years of 1969 to 1974. Her major platform as First Lady was to promote volunteerism. Through this platform, she encouraged Americans to address social problems at the local level through volunteering at civic organizations, hospitals, and rehabilitation centers. Like the First Lady, many teachers are known for emphasizing the importance of citizenship.

Pat Nixon passed away on June 22, 1993, in Park Ridge, New Jersey. She was 81 years old. She is interred next to her husband at the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California.

Utah teacher Tonya Bryner serves as successful FBLA advisor

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Business Education teacher Tonya Bryner of Salt Lake City, Utah, is recognized as one of the most exceptional FBLA advisors in her state. Photo credit: Hunter High School

I am always eager to share the story of an educator who has earned the respect of the students, colleagues, and parents in her school. Today I shine the spotlight on Tonya Bryner, a Business Education instructor from Utah. In 2021, she earned State Advisor of the Year honors from the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA).

Currently, Tonya teaches Business Education at Hunter High School in Salt Lake City. She has taught there for three years. Prior to working at Hunter, she taught for three years at Hillcrest High School in Midvale, Utah, and for five years before that she taught at the junior high school level in the Granite School District of West Valley City, Utah. Before she entered the teaching profession, Tonya served as a missionary for her church, traveling to Johannesburg, South Africa, to complete community service projects.

Tonya’s work as a Business Education teacher is of vital importance to students. Business education courses provide students with the academic and technical skills, knowledge, and training necessary to succeed in future careers and to become lifelong learners. Across the nation, about 12 million high school and college students are enrolled in business courses.

As an FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) advisor, Tonya has coached her team to state competitions. Two of her students have even earned first place awards at the state level. During the state and national FBLA Jeopardy competition, her team garnered a first place trophy. She has also earned the Gold Seal Chapter Award of Merit every year that she has been an FBLA advisor. In addition to her work as Ann FBLA advisor, in 2023, she served as a presenter at the Career Technical Education (CTE) Summer Conference.

Tonya earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Education in 1989 and her Master’s degree in Management Information Systems in 2008, both from Utah State University.

Business Ed educator Megan Wald named a finalist for ND 2023 Teacher of the Year

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Business education teacher Megan Wald was named one of four finalists for 2023 North Dakota Teacher of the Year. Photo Credit: Valley City State University

I always enjoy sharing the story of an exceptional educator. One of these is Megan Wald, a business education teacher from North Dakota. She was selected as Emmons County’s Teacher of he Year last May, and she has been named one of four finalists selected to compete for the title of 2023 North Dakota Teacher of the Year.

Megan teaches Business Education courses at Linton High School in Linton, an unincorporated community located in Emmons County, North Dakota. She is also an adjunct business teacher for the North Dakota Center for Distance Education in Fargo. Her career as an educator has spanned 15 years.

For Megan, her work as an educator is never a nine-to-five job. “You have to be passionate about the work that you do and know what your goal is,” she asserts. And she definitely knows what her goal is. “My philosophy is definitely preparing students for work outside of high school. Giving them career readiness skills is one of my top priorities,” she declares.

Megan earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Education and Marketing from Valley City State University in Valley City, North Dakota, in 2008.

Congratulations, Megan!

High school educator Kathleen MacDonald honored in Santa Clara, CA

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Former high school business teacher and vice principal Kathleen MacDonald was named as the Grand Marshall of the annual Parade of Champions in Santa Clara, California, October, 2022.  Photo Credit: DKG

It is always a pleasure to share stories of exceptional educators. One of these is Kathleen MacDonald, a former high school business teacher and Vice Principal from Santa Clara, California.

In 1964, Kathleen accepted a position as a business and typing teacher at Adrian C. Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, California. She served in this position until 1993, when she became the school’s Activities Director. In 1995, she was promoted to Vice Principal of Student Activities.

Kathleen is obviously beloved by her students, even the ones who had already graduated. “Mrs. MacDonald fosters an environment where students can intellectually and socially mature,” declares former student Heather Narciso. “She deals with the most unique and dynamic personalities of Wilcox and is committed to helping students succeed in every facet of their lives,” Narciso continues. “Every student has different leadership skills, but when you graduate, you know you’re the best leader that you can be—thanks to Mrs. MacDonald,” she concluded.

“Mrs. MacDonald offered me endless support when I was in high school, but what really makes her stand out is the time she invests in her students’ lives after they graduate,” said Narciso. “She keeps track of her former students and genuinely cares about their future and lives in the real world.”

Kathleen was inducted into the Delta Rho Chapter of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International in 1984, a prestigious organization for women educators. She served her chapter as their Scholarship Chair for many years.

For her many years of dedication as an educator, Kathleen has earned many accolades. In 2011, she was honored by the San Francisco 49ers and Symetra Financial as one of their “Hero in the Classroom” winners. On Oct. 1, 2022, Kathleen served as the Grand Marshal for the annual Parade of Champions in Santa Clara. Two weeks later, this Chalkboard Champion was honored when the Santa Clara Unified School District, to whom she has dedicated nearly 60 years of her professional life, opened a brand new high school christened Kathleen MacDonald High School in her honor. To learn more about this auspicious day, click here.

Teacher, coach, and Columbine hero Dave Sanders

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Dave Sanders

Author Terry Lee Marzell examines plaque honoring slain educator Dave Sanders at the Columbine Memorial in Littleton, Colorado. Photo Credit: Hal Marzell

While visiting the Denver area in 2018, I had the unique opportunity to visit the Columbine Memorial which honors the innocent lives lost in the Columbine High School massacre. There I paid homage to Dave Sanders, a truly heroic teacher who lost his life during the shooting.

Dave was born on October 22, 1951, in Eldorado, Saline County, Illinois. He was the youngest of five children. Sadly, his father passed away when Dave was only four years old. Following his father’s death, the young boy was raised by his widowed mother in Newtown, Indiana.

Even as a youngster, Dave excelled at athletics. Known for being a consistent and dependable player, he participated in basketball, baseball, and cross country. After his 1969 graduation from Fountain Central High School in Veedersburg, Dave enrolled at Nebraska Western Junior College in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, where he earned his Associate’s Degree. He then transferred to Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Education from Chadron in 1974.

That same year, Dave accepted his first teaching position at Columbine High School in an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, near the Denver suburb of Littleon. There he taught business classes, including typing, keyboarding, business, business law, and economics. He also worked with other teachers in the Business Department to organize career days and arrange for guest speakers to visit classes.

Dave Sanders

Chalkboard Hero, teacher, and coach Dave Sanders. Image  courtesy of Conie Sanders

But it was as a coach that Dave truly excelled. Early in his career he coached boys’ baseball, basketball, cross country, and soccer. In his later years, he coached girls’ basketball, softball, and track. In 1995, Dave’s girls’ softball team reached the Class 5A state finals, and the same year, his girls’ basketball team qualified for a coveted berth in the annual Sweet 16 Tournament. “His ability to coach was not so much about his ability to do the sport, but about his ability to analyze the mechanics of the sport, the kinesiology of it,” colleague Joe Marshall once described. “It didn’t matter what he coached. He coached kids, he didn’t coach a sport. He truly devoted himself to the athletes,” Joe continued. In addition to his coaching responsibilities for Columbine, Dave and his colleague, Rick Bath, coached basketball camps, softball tournaments, open batting cage sessions, and a B league girls’ softball program during the summers.

Dave’s career as a teacher and coach spanned 25 years. Tragically, this outstanding educator and coach was shot and killed on April 20, 1999, when two students carried out a mass shooting at Columbine High School. During the massacre, the intrepid teacher organized an evacuation of the area, led a group of approximately 200 students to safety, and warned unsuspecting teachers and students in other classrooms of the danger. He is credited with saving at least 200 lives that fateful day before he succumbed from his gunshot wounds.

For his heroism, Dave Sanders was honored in 1999 with the ESPY Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award. The same year, he was recognized by the National Consortium for Academics and Sports with the Giant Steps Award for Male Coach. You can read more about him in my second book, Chalkboard Heroes.