Sharon Mills Draper: Former high school English teacher and award-winning author.

I love to share stories about talented educators who have made a name for themselves as an author. One of these is Sharon Mills Draper, a former high school English teacher who has also won awards as an author of books for children and adolescents.

Sharon was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on Aug. 21, 1948, the oldest of the three children of Victor and Catherine Mills. Her father was a hotel maitre d’ and her mother worked in the advertising department of a local newspaper. As a child, Sharon loved to play the piano and to read. By the time she was 11 years old, she had read every children’s book in her local library. The librarian then gave her a special library card that she could use to check out books from the adult section.

When she grew up, Sharon earned her Bachelor’s degree in English from Pepperdine University and her Master’s degree from Miami University of Ohio. Once she completed her education, she inaugurated her teaching career in Cincinnati public schools. As a teacher, she earned fame among her students for a challenging research paper she assigned to her seniors. They dubbed the assignment the “Draper Paper.”

Sharon’s career as an author began in 1990 when she was challenged by one of her ninth grade student to “write something.” She submitted a short story entitled “One Small Torch” to a writing contest sponsored by Ebony Magazine. The magazine published her story and awarded her $1,000. She even earned praise from Roots author Alex Haley! In 2000, after a career as an educator that spanned 25 years, Sharon retired to spend more time on her writing.

For her work as an educator and as an author, Sharon has earned many accolades. She was named the National Teacher of the Year in 1997. The same year, the Ohio Department of Education named her an Ohio Pioneer in Education, and she garnered a National Educator Award from the Milken Foundation. She also won the Career Woman of Achievement, the Dean’s Award from Howard University School of Education, the Pepperdine University Distinguished Alumnus Award, the Marva Collins Education Excellence Award, and the Governor’s Educational Leadership Award. In addition, Sharon earned the Coretta Scott King Award for books about youngsters and adolescents. She is best known for her Hazelwood and Jericho series.

To learn more about the work of Sharon Mills Draper, see her bio info at Simon & Schuster.

High school English teacher and emerging author Kimarlee Nguyen of New York City succumbed to the coronavirus on April 5, 2020.

Sadly, many New York City educators have succumbed to the coronavirus. One of these is Kimarlee Nguyen, a high school teacher at Brooklyn Latin School. Kimarlee passed away on April 5, 2020. She was only 33 years old.

Kimarlee was born and raised in Revere, Massachusetts, to parents who survived the Khmer Rouge. After graduation from high school, she enrolled at Vassar College, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in English. She recently earned her Master’s degree in Fine Arts from Long Island University, Brooklyn.

Kimarlee taught English at the Boston Latin School since 2014, and she was beloved by her students. “She was a role model, an influence, and a source of hope,” asserts student Sulagna Sarkar. “I remember once walking in when visiting her. She began to ask everything from how was the family, to how school was. It showed not only did she listen when we would go to her, but she cared,” the student continued. “She was everything for a person that was struggling in our school. She was understanding and loving. She loved us all like her own children and she was loved, even if she didn’t know it, by ten times as many people because that’s just who she was,” Sulagna concluded.

In addition to being a beloved teacher, Kimarlee was also a rising star as an author. Her work has been published in Drunken Boat, Hyphen, and Cha: An Asian Literary Journal. “She was such a fierce defender for the right for marginalized people to have a voice, particularly southeast Asians,” expressed fellow author Cherry Lou Sy. “She was a champion for that cause.” Kimarlee was a recipient of the Teacher and Librarian Scholarship from the Key West Literary Seminar in 2017. She was named a 2018 Emerging Writer Fellow by The Center for Fiction. The young teacher was one of nine chosen from over 500 applicants. Each writer selected garnered a grant of $5,000, the opportunity to work on a manuscript with a distinguished editor, and the chance to read at public events at The Center.

To read more about this amazing educator, see this memorial at Kundiman.

New York English teacher and celebrated author Frank Nappi.

Many excellent teachers have earned accolades in fields outside of the classroom. One of these is Frank Nappi, a high school English teacher from New York who has earned national fame as an author.

Frank was born in Bay Shore, Suffolk County, New York, on Feb. 27, 1967. As a young boy, he attended Farmingdale High School in Farmingdale, New York. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from Hofstra University, a private university located in Hampstead, New York.

After he earned his degrees, Frank taught English and Creative Writing at Oceanside High School, a public school located in Oceanside, New York. His career as an educator there spanned 31 years.

Frank published his first novel, Echoes from the Infantry, in 2005. The tale, a story about a World War II veteran, earned national attention. Frank garnered a silver medal for outstanding fiction from the Military Writers Society of America for the effort. His second novel, The Legend of Mickey Tussler, a story about baseball, earned high reviews, too. A movie adaptation entitled A Mile in His Shoes was based on the story. He has also published Sophomore Campaign (2012) and the dark thriller Nobody Has to Know (2012), both of which have earned accolades.  He also wrote Welcome to the Show, published in 2016.

Probably the book that Frank wrote that is most intriguing for teachers, though, is I Became an Elementary School Outlaw, published in 2019. The tale is a delightful memoir of a little boy who becomes a teacher when he matures. The story depicts the angst of growing up and fitting in, and is told with humor and insight.

Today Frank lives on Long Island, New York. To read an interview with this amazing educator, see this link to a 2013 interview with Sandra Bornstein.