Tag Archives: Business Teachers

Jacobie Bluhm engages students with nerdy quotes and hip-hop

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Digital media teacher Jacobie Bluhm from San Jacinto High School in Southern California engages his students with nerdy quotes and hip-hop dance moves. Photo credit: Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Many talented educators use unique and unusual teaching methods to reach their students. One of these is Jacobie Bluhm, a digital media teacher from San Jacinto High School in Southern California. He engages his students with nerdy quotes from Star Wars and hip-hop dance moves.

One of Jacobie’s favorite Star Wars quotes is Yoda’s “Do or do not. There is no try.” After he printed the quote on his syllabus at the beginning of the school year, his students called him a nerd. Before long, though, the students admitted that their teacher was teaching them that the key to success in their learning was increased effort.

Jacobite guides his students in real-world assignments, including web design and creating content for the school’s website. “They are not just turning in something for the teacher to look at. They are putting out something for the website.” says Jacobie’s colleague Jeremy Murphy. He says this level of engagement is a big deal to students. “Engagement is a big deal,” says Murphy, “to keep kids interested and also keep expectations at a level where they are continually growing.” And, Murphy continues, Jacobie brings a lot of energy to his approach to teaching.

“My teaching style is a bit different,” admitted Jacobie. “I’m very open and honest. And I feel that that is the best trait that teachers can have,” he continued.

In addition to his classroom responsibilities, Jacobie teaches hip-hop dance after school as part of the Murrieta Dance Project. There he puts his kids at ease while simultaneously challenging them to be their best. His goal to help his dancers find and develop confidence. “There’s a spark in them that they won’t let be contained,” he asserts.

 

RI teacher and coach Meaghan McGonagle succumbs to Covid-19

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Teacher and coach Meaghan McGonagle of Cranston, Rhode Island, succumbed to Covid-19 on Dec.  16, 2021. She was only 41 years old. Photo credit: Providence Journal.

Sadly, Covid-19 continues to claim the lives of dedicated and beloved educators. One of these was Meaghan McGonagle, a popular teacher and coach from Cranston, Rhode Island. Only 41 years old, she succumbed to the disease on December 16, 2021.

Meaghan’s career as an educator in Cranston Public Schools spanned 15 years. For the past eight years, she taught Business courses at Cranston High School East. She also coached the girls and boys volleyball teams, leading both teams to state titles. In addition to working at Cranston she was the Entrepreneurship Program Instructor at Cranston Area Career and Technical Center, where she had worked for six years, and a Business Teacher at Guilderland Central School District, where she had worked for four years.

Meaghan’s absence will be keenly felt by her students, asserted Ken Hopkins, Mayor of Cranston. “[She] coached them through some championship seasons. The kids loved her,” he said. Hopkins recalled that he worked with the fallen educator for several years at Cranston East before he was elected mayor. “She was well-loved. She wasn’t one of those fly-by-night teachers that come and go. She was there, after school, with the kids, and very much a part of the Cranston East community,” he remembered.

Meaghan graduated from Pilgrim High School in Warwick, Rhode Island, in 1998. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Management from Siena College, New York, in 2002. There she was a two-time team captain on the women’s basketball team.

Former athlete, teacher, and basketball coach Bethany LaSeur

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Former New York athlete Bethany LaSeur now enjoys success as a teacher and basketball coach. Photo credit: liHerald.

Many fine educators have also enjoyed success as an athlete. One of these is Bethany LaSeur, high school teacher and coach from New York who also earned a reputation as an excellent women’s basketball player.

Bethany was born on January 6, 1983. As a youngster, she attended Garden City High School in Long Island, New York. While there, she excelled at several sports, including basketball, lacrosse, and soccer. She led the team to three Long Island Championships Twice she was named Gatorade Player of the Year for New York (2000, 2001). She also garnered the title of Miss New York Basketball in 2001. She was recognized as a Street & Smith All-American, a USA Today All-American, and once she also started in the Nike-WBCA All America Game. As if all that were not enough, she was also a member of the National Honor Society/Merit Scholar.

She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and her Master’s degree from Hofstra University. While there, she served as the team captain. She garnered many accolades, including Defensive Player of the Year and the Patricia E. Corace Hustle Award. Bethany was in the top ten in steals in the Big East in both her junior and senior years of college.

Today, Bethany teaches Business Education at East Meadow High School She also coaches the girls varsity basketball team. In addition, she is the Head Female Trainer for Pro Hoops, Inc., and she serves as the Directory of Female Programs for the Rising Stars Organization.

To read  more about this Chalkboard Athlete, see this interview of her published by Patch.com.

Business teacher and former First Lady Pat Nixon

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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.

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.

Business Ed teacher, veteran, and musician Jim Flynn of Maine

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Business Education teacher, veteran, and award-winning country music songwriter Jim Flynn of Lewistown, Maine. Photo credit: Creative Commons.

There are many examples of dedicated educators who have earned fame in arenas outside of the classroom. One of these was Jim Flynn, a business education teacher from Maine who was also well-known as a country music songwriter.

Jim was born on March 24, 1938, in Lewistown, Maine. He was raised is Monmouth, Maine. As a young man, he served his country in the US Army as a radio operator. He was deployed to Germany as part of the Cold War effort known as Operation Gyroscope. In 1957, he joined a musical group named the Tune Toppers which was featured in the 10th Infantry Division Band and Chorus that performed in Wurzburg.

After Jim earned his Honorable discharge in 1959, he enrolled in business courses at first the Auburn Maine School of Commerce and then the Husson College in Bangor, Maine. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Business Education in 1964. Ten years later he earned his Master’s degree in Secondary School Administration from the University of Southern Maine at Portland-Gorham.

Jim inaugurated his career as an educator in 1964. He taught Business Education and also coached sports. Once he retired from the classroom, he sold educational textbooks to public schools located in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts.

After he left the classroom, Jim became a local celebrity among country music aficionados in New England. The former educator earned several awards for the songs he wrote. In 2005, he garnered first place in the Best Folk Songwriter category for the song “The Ballad of L.L. Bean” at the Down East Country Music Awards (DECMA). That same year, he earned second and third place in the Traditional Country Songwriter category for his compositions entitled “As Calm as a Blue Lagoon” and “The Day they Paved the Road.” In addition, DECMA honored Jim with a Founders Award for his contributions to the Maine country music community.

Jim Flynn passed away on May 8, 2019, in his home town of Lewistown. He was 81 years old. To read more about this talented teacher, see his entry at Moviefit.