Elementary schoolteacher Esther Hansen Clark earned acclaim as a daredevil journalist, dodging bullets in Viet Nam. Photo credit: Skirting Traditions.

“In an era of afternoon ten-cent newspapers and all-male newsrooms, Esther Clark, a former elementary school teacher who years later would dodge bullets in Vietnam, established her credentials in Arizona as a versatile and fearless reporter.” So says biographer Carol Cain Hughes about Chalkboard Champion and journalist Esther Hansen Clark.

Esther Hansen was born on September 9, 1910, in Denver, Colorado. As a young girl, she attended Manual Training High School. Upon her graduation, she enrolled in Greeley College, where future teachers were trained. This institution is now known as the University of Northern Colorado. Once her education there was completed, Esther accepted a position an an elementary school teacher in southeastern Colorado. In 1936 Esther married Frank Clark, and nine years later the couple moved to Phoenix, Arizona.

In Phoenix, Esther became employed as a journalist for the Phoenix Gazette, a post she held for nearly 30 years. During her tenure there, she published news stories about current events in Arizona, including dispatches detailing the Civil Rights Freedom Concert, American Indian affairs, military news, and the conflict in the Middle East. “Some of her achievements read like daredevil stunts,” says Hughes. “She was the first newswoman to fly in a T-33, a B-47 Stratojet bomber, and an F-100 Super Sabre jet that cracked the sonic barrier.” Other difficult assignments included simulating bailing out of a jet at 43,000 feet and traveling to Panama with the US Army to participate in rigorous jungle warfare training. But it was her 1966 stint as one of the first women reporters embedded on the front lines in the war-torn jungles of Viet Nam that have earned her the greatest acclaim. For her pioneering work in the field of journalism, Esther was profiled by Time magazine. She also garnered the coveted Dickey Chapelle Award in 1941. She was recognized with the Marine Corps League Awards for Notable Contributions to the Marine Corps and the Nation in 1971. Actor John Wayne was similarly honored that year.

Esther retired from the Gazette in 1973, and in 1986 she returned to her home state of Colorado. She passed away on August 1, 1990, in Grand Junction, Colorado. She was 79 years old.

For more about this amazing educator and journalist, you can read Hughes’ more detailed account in Skirting Traditions: Arizona Women Writers and Journalists 1912-2012.

Kristi Borge, a teacher in a rural one-room schoolhouse in Polaris, Montana, has been named her state’s 2021 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Kristi Borge

I always enjoy sharing stories about teachers who have been honored for their excellence in the classroom. One of these is Krista Borge, a K-8 teacher from Polaris, Montana, whose classroom is in a rural one-room schoolhouse. She has been named the 2021 Montana State Teacher of the Year.

Over the course of her career, Kristi has taught students from kindergarten through eighth grade in every content area. In her school, Kristi is the only full-time staff member. She teaches several grade levels at once, including students who are siblings.

In her schoolhouse, Kristi wears many hats. She is the administrator, librarian, and the school lawn care and snow removal technician. In addition, she helps co-ordinate extracurricular activities such as the rural school science fair, the basketball league, and the track meet. “You have to be really self-sufficient when you run a one-room school,” Kristi observes.

Kristi earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education with a minor in K-12 Reading from Montana State University, Bozeman. Later she earned a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the same university.

Kristi inaugurated her degree as a middle school Social Studies and Language Arts teacher at Monforton School in Four Corners. After four years there, Kristi and  her husband, Erik, returned to the small town of her roots.

In addition to teaching, Kristi enjoys traveling. She even volunteers to escort students for the program People to People Student Ambassadors, which gives her opportunities to tour Europe and Australia with high school students. She has traveled to Cambodia as a volunteer English teacher, and she has worked as a science camp instructor at the Montana Learning Center during her summers.

In her classroom, Krista is passionate about exploring and employing best practices and careful curriculum planning to meet the needs of her diverse learners. But these are not the only priorities of the honored teacher. “My number one goal is to build positive relationships with the students first,” she declares. “Then, once you have mutual respect and understanding, then you can make a lot of progress in academics.”

To learn more about this Chalkboard Champion, see the article published about her at the website for Montana State University.

Elementary and junior high school teacher Lucy Tootell served in the Rhode Island House of Representatives. Photo credit: Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.

There are many fine classroom educators who have also served their communities in a variety of capacities. Some have even gone on to make excellent politicians. One of these is Lucy Tootell, an elementary and junior high school teacher who also served in the Rhode Island House of Representatives.

Lucy was born November 27, 1911, in Jacksonville, Illinois. Her mother was a former dramatics arts director at Rhode Island State College, now known as the University of Rhode Island. Her father was Roy Willard Rawlings, the last Republican Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives. She was two years old when her family moved to the state of Rhode Island. When she became a teenager, Lucy attended South Kingstown High School for three years, but she graduated with honors from Westerly High School in 1929.

After her high school graduation, Lucy earned her Bachelor’s degree, with honors, from Rhode Island College of Education in 1933. She inaugurated her career as an educator at Roger Williams Junior High School, and later taught at the Richmond Elementary School. Later Lucy attended law school at Boston University. She also attended the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City during the summer of 1934, and Northwestern University, where she was offered the directorship of their renowned children’s theater.

The indefatigable educator served her community in many capacities. She served as the curator and archivist of the Kingston Little Rest Museum. She was instrumental in establishing and organizing the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society, the Richmond Historical Society, and the  the Charlestown Historical Society. In addition, she was a lecturer and an author of many local history publications, books, and slide shows. Lucy also served as Council Commissioner of the Rhode Island Girl Scout Organization. In 1970, she was elected to the Richmond School Committee and, in 1972, was elected on the Republican ticket to the Rhode Island House of Representatives from Chariho District #52, where she served from 1973 until 1977.

For her tireless work on behalf of Rhode Island, Lucy was named “Woman of the Year” by the Chariho Business and Professional Women’s Club in 1974.She also garnered the “John Nicholas Brown Award,” from The League of RI Historical Societies in 1982.
In 1997, in recognition of her distinguished achievements in the field of and preservation of history, Lucy earned an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Rhode Island. In 2013, she was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away on January 5, 2010. To read more about Lucy Tootell, see this post on the website for the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.