Tag Archives: Celebrity Teachers

Fourth Grade Teacher Kara Laricks is Also an Acclaimed Fashion Designer

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Kara+Laricks+Outerwear+Blazer+HHd3WC8VGsxl[1]Many talented educators have earned acclaim in fields other than education. One outstanding example of this is Kara Laricks, a fourth grade elementary schoolteacher who is also an acclaimed fashion designer.

Kara hails from Overland Park, Kansas, but she currently resides in New York City. She taught fourth grade for ten years. “I love teaching,” she expressed in an interview for Curve Magazine. “I love that career.” The talented teacher always told her students to be true to themselves. Finally, she decided to take own advice and pursue her dream of a career in fashion.

Kara said that she has loved design ever since she was a child. She attended the Academy of Art University, where she graduated in 2008. In 2012, at the age of thirty-eight, she became a contestant on the first season of the reality show Fashion Star, where her designs garnered her the first place trophy. Rolling Stone Magazine credited the show with embracing the avant garde designer and commended the buyers, especially Macy’s, for thinking outside the box and selecting Kara. The former teacher was awarded a grand prize of $6 million of purchases by Macy’s, H&M, and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Former Special Education Teacher Kate Capshaw: She is Not Doomed!

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Kate-Capshaw-9542150-1-402[1]Many talented educators have made their mark in fields other than education. This is certainly true of former teacher Kate Capshaw, a Hollywood actress who is best known for her portrayal of Willie Scott in the movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. She is also married to famed director Steven Spielberg.

Kate was born on November 3, 1953, in Fort Worth, Texas, of humble origins. Her mother was a travel agent and beautician, and her father was an airline employee. When Kate was only five years old, her family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where in 1972 she graduated from Hazelwood Central High School.

After her high school graduation, Kate earned a bachelor’s degree in history education and a master’s degree in special education, both from the University of Missouri. She accepted her first teaching position as a special education teacher at Southern Boone County High School in Ashland, Missouri. Later she transferred to Rock Bridge High School in Columbia, Missouri. During her years as an educator, she married and divorced Robert Capshaw, a school principal. The union produced one daughter.

After some years in the classroom, Kate moved to New York City to pursue a career in acting, landing her first role on the soap opera The Edge of Night. She also starred in Dreamscape in 1984, SpaceCamp in 1996 and How to Make an American Quilt in 1995. During the filming of Indiana Jones, Kate began a relationship with Spielberg, which eventually resulted in her conversion to Judaism and their marriage in 1991. The couple have five children in addition to Kate’s daughter from her first marriage.

 

Hollywood Actress Dee Green Takes Center Stage as Beloved Music and Choir Teacher

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g2e22e201a0004e53a615765e863ab4ebf8422bf84baa13c98654927754[1][1]Often times talented educators achieve success in fields other than education. One such educator was Delores Mae Green, who is better known as Dee Green. Dee was a beloved music and choir teacher who was also an acclaimed actress. In Hollywood, her claim to fame is that she worked with the Three Stooges, and she is well-known for playing the part of one of Shemp’s potential brides. She was the plain, tall, and fawning Miss Fanny Dinkelmeyer in the comedy short Brideless Groom. She also portrayed the homely and unattractive fiance in I’m a Monkey’s Uncle and the daughter of King Rootintootin’ in Mummy’s Dummies. Dee was born on November 16, 1916, in Peoria, Illinois. After her career in show business, she earned her master’s degree in music. She taught music and choir classes at Peoria Heights Grade School in Peoria Heights, Illinois, in the 1960’s. Throughout the late 1970’s and early 1980’s she taught Language Arts and Drama at Roosevelt Junior High, which is now known as Rockford Alternative Middle School, in Rockford, Illinois. She produced annual events, including a production of Babes in Toyland and numerous elaborate Christmas pageants that included every student in the school. Dee inspired more than one student to pursue a career in theater, some of whom eventually earned success on Broadway in New York. She was often described by her students as kind and generous, and a woman of great courage, talent, and vision. This amazing chalkboard champion passed away on April 24, 1985.

First Lady of Idaho Lori Easley Otter: Chalkboard Champion, Author, and Beauty Pageant Queen

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$RA3S5ZXMany chalkboard champions have earned recognition for successes outside of the field of education. One such amazing educator is Lori Easley Otter, the First lady of Idaho. This former teacher and administrator is married to current Governor C. L. “Butch” Otter.

Lori was born in Pensacola, Florida, in 1967, the youngest of four children in a military family. In the 1970’s, her family moved to Idaho when her father retired from the U.S. Navy. Lori graduated from Kimberly High School, and then enrolled in Boise State University, where she earned her teaching degree in education and physical education, with minors in health and English. She earned her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction, and educational administration from Northwest Nazarene University in 2004. She spent two years as an administrator.

Lori taught physical education, health, and English at both the elementary and secondary levels for the Meridian School District in Meridian, Idaho. She also coached girls basketball and volleyball at the junior high and high school levels for thirteen years. This athletic educator also runs marathons, plays tennis, and is an accomplished equestrienne.

In 1991, Lori entered the Miss Idaho USA Pageant, winning the title and representing Idaho in the Miss USA 1991 pageant the same year. During her reign as Miss Idaho USA, Lori was introduced to Butch Otter, who was then serving as lieutenant governor of Idaho. After some time teaching and coaching in Arizona, Lori returned to Idaho in 1995. In 2006, Lori and Butch were married, and later that year, Butch was elected governor of Idaho.

Combining her love of Idaho and her passion for education and literacy, this gifted educator has written three children’s books. She penned “Little Clyde – Horsing Around in Sun Valley,” and two history books, “Ida Visits the Capitol” and “Ida Tours the 44: A Book of Idaho Counties.” Lori’s character Ida Jones is a young barnstorming pilot who seeks adventure and teaches Idaho history to fourth graders as she flies her airplane through the state.

Chalkboard Champion Gwynneth Hardesty Coogan Is Also An Olympic Competitor

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Many talented educators distinguish themselves in fields other than education, and a perfect example of this is Gwynneth Hardesty Coogan, a talented educator who also happens to be an Olympic athlete.

Gwynneth was born on August 21, 1965, in Trenton, New Jersey. As a youngster, Gwynneth attended Phillips Exeter Academy for two years, where she graduated in 1983. There she played both field hockey and squash. After her graduation from high school, she enrolled in Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, earning her bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1987, and her doctorate in math from the University of Colorado in 1999, working primarily in number theory. She did post-doctorate work with at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Gwynneth’s first teaching experience was at Hood College, but she  currently teaches math at Phillips Exeter Academy. At Phillips Exeter, Gwynneth is the director of the Exeter Mathematics Institute, and serves as the head coach of the girls varsity cross country team, in addition to her roles as dormitory adviser and mathematics instructor. She was the first Smith Family Instructor of Mathematics from 2007 to 2013, and she received a Brown Award for her teaching in 2011.

During her years at Smith, Gwynneth took up running, and won the NCAA Division III title in the 3,000 meters two times. She qualified for the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona, Spain, where she competed in the 10,000 meter race.Four years later, she was an alternate for the women’s marathon for the 1996 Summer Olympics held in Atlanta, Georgia.