One indisputable chalkboard champion is Eve Kristine Vetulani Balfour. Born a Catholic in Krakow, Poland, this remarkable educator came from a family that abhorred the Nazi regime. The Vetulanis adopted a Jewish woman during WWII, thereby saving her from the Nazis. Eve Kristine did not escape their clutches, however. In 1942, during the German occupation of Poland, she was forced to work in Nazi slave labor camps. Her knowledge of languages saved her life during World War II because she was more valuable to the Germans as a translator than a slave laborer. Fortunately, she was liberated by the Allies in 1945 from a camp in Nordhausen, the site of the construction of V-1 and V-2 rockets.

After the war, Eve Kristine worked as a translator for US Army intelligence while she attended Frankfurt University in Frankfurt, Germany. In 1950, she immigrated to the United States as a displaced person. Upon her arrival, she first enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. After moving to Maryland, she graduated from Frostburg State Teachers College, Maryland, in 1962, and earned her master’s degree in French from Middlebury College, Vermont, in 1966.

For over twenty-five years Eve Kristine worked as an instructor of French, German, and Spanish at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore, Maryland. She retired from the teaching profession in 1988. Able to speak Polish, Russian, German, Spanish, French, and Italian, Eve Kristine translated historical documents for the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, after her retirement. She also worked for the Red Cross at their Tracing Bureau, assisting efforts to reunite Holocaust survivors with their families.

Eve Kristine passed away in 2004 at the age of 79, but she will always be remembered as a true chalkboard champion.

One of the most creative and innovative educators of our day is Rafe Esquith, a fifth grade teacher in Los Angeles, California. This remarkable educator is also a sought-after motivational speaker and a successful author. His books include Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire (2007); There Are No Shortcuts (2003); Lighting Their Fires: Raising Extraordinary Children in a Mixed-up, Muddled-up, Shook-up World (2009); and Real Talk for Real Teachers: Advice to Teachers from Rookies to Veterans: “No Retreat, No Surrender!” (2013).

A California native, Rafe Esquith graduated from UCLA in 1981, and started his teaching career at Ivanhoe Elementary, an inner city school located in Los Angeles. Two years later he transferred to Hobart Blvd. Elementary School, where he has been a teacher since 1984. Rafe teaches students who come from impoverished and immigrant families, primarily from Central America and Korea. Most of his students speak English as a second language and are part of the government’s free or reduced lunch program. Yet despite their challenges, Rafe’s kids consistently score in the top 5% to 10% in the country on standardized tests. To achieve this, the students voluntarily come to school early in the morning, work through recesses, stay late, and give up their vacations and holidays to spend extra time in his class.

In recognition of Rafe’s remarkable teaching talents, he has received many honors and awards. In 1992 Rafe received the Disney National Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award, and in 2003, he was given the President’s National Medal of the Arts. He has also earned an As You Grow Award from Parents Magazine, and a Use Your Life Award from Oprah Winfrey.