Tag Archives: Language Arts Teachers

High School English Teacher Susan Dryden Whitson Served as Press Secretary for First Lady Laura Bush

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whitson[1]Many talented educators pursue successful careers outside the profession of teaching. One example of this is Susan Dryden Whitson, a high school English teacher from Birmingham, Alabama, who also served as the press secretary to First Lady Laura Bush. “Mrs. Bush and I are both educators, so we share the common belief that education and literacy are the foundation of opportunity,” Susan once said. “Working for Mrs. Bush has afforded me the chance to talk about the issues important to her, but which are also important to me.”

Susan earned her bachelor’s degree in secondary education language arts from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, in 1991. As a young co-ed, she was a member of the War Eagle Girls and Plainsmen and the Student Government Association. After graduating from Auburn, Susan accepted a position in her native Birmingham to teach ninth and tenth grade English at Hoover High School. She was employed there for six years. While there, Susan was the ninth-grade English teacher to 2006 American Idol winner Taylor Hicks.

In 1997, at the end of a temporary summer appointment with then Representative Bob Riley, she was offered a position as his press secretary. She considered the offer “an opportunity too good to pass up.” In the eight years that followed, she served as a press secretary on Capitol Hill for numerous government officials, including two US representatives, a deputy director of the Office of Public Affairs at the US Department of Justice, a chief of the FBI’s National Press Office, and a deputy communications director for the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign.  She was appointed by Mrs. Bush as the First Lady’s press secretary in 2005, and worked in that capacity until 2007.

The former English teacher currently serves on the Auburn Campaign Committee for the Washington metro area. Susan and her husband, Keir Whitson, live in Rappahannock County, Virginia.

“I’ve held a lot of titles over the years,” Susan once declared, “but the one I am most proud of is teacher.”

Entertainment Anchor Joyce Kulhawik: She Was Once a High School English Teacher

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imagesCAVIX9GJMany talented educators can boast of achievements in fields other than education. Such is certainly the case for Joyce Kulhawik, a Boston high school English teacher who was once the arts and entertainment anchor for WBZ-TV News in Boston, Massachusetts.

Joyce was born in 1952 in Connecticut. In 1974, she earned her bachelor’s degree in English and Secondary Education from Simmons College, a private undergraduate college for women located in Boston. One of the top two graduating seniors at Simmons, Joyce was recognized with the Crown Zellerbach Award and a full fellowship to the University of Vermont, where she completed the requirements for a double master’s degree in English and Education in 1977.

After her college graduation, Joyce taught English at Brookline High School in Brookline, Massachusetts. She was employed there from 1976 to 1978. The school itself is remarkable, having received the Gold Medal for Best High Schools from US News and World Report. Joyce also was a member of the faculty at the Boston Architectural College from 1977 to 1979. Also known a the BAC, the school is New England’s largest private college of spatial design, offering bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and design studies. The college offers continuing education credits and certificates, and also hosts the BAC Summer Academy for high school students.

Joyce began working for WBZ-TV in 1978 as an associate producer and reporter for Evening Magazine. In 1981, she became the station’s arts and entertainment reporter, and played a key role in the public service campaign, “You Gotta Have Arts!” As part of the campaign, the former teacher hosted the station’s Emmy Award-winning You Gotta Have Arts! program, as well as three specials, the first of which received an Emmy Award in 1982. She also presented Arts Breaks, 60-second spots featuring local artists, museums, and cultural events. From 1982 to 1985, Joyce served as co-anchor of the station’s Live on 4 newscast. She also performed as a guest narrator in orchestral works, and has performed with the Boston Pops, the New England Philharmonic, the Boston Musica Viva, the Boston Civic Symphony, and the Concord Orchestra. In addition, Joyce was the co-host of the weekly nationally syndicated movie review program Hot Ticket. During the 1999–2000 television season, Joyce was a co-host on Roger Ebert & The Movies. Joyce concluded her career with the television station in 2008.

A three-time cancer survivor, Joyce testified before Congress on the 20th anniversary of the National Cancer Act. Since 1983 she has served as the Honorary Chairperson for the American Cancer Society’s Daffodil Days, the largest state-wide annual spring fundraising event. The American Cancer Society honored Joyce with its National Bronze Medal Award, and she also earned the 1994 Gilda Radner Award from the Wellness Community in Greater Boston “for engendering inspiration in cancer patients via her own valiant fight with the disease.”

In 1990, Joyce was the recipient of The Boston Theater District Award, which is presented annually to a Bostonian who has made a significant contribution to the stage, screen, or television. She also received Boston New England Emmy Award for WBZ-TV’s Outstanding Team Coverage of Ground Zero in 2001. In May, 2002, she received an Honorary Doctorate in Communications from her alma mater, Simmons College. In May, 2007, she was named one of the first inductees to the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame. In May 2010, she received the Governor’s Award, and the next year the former educator received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the14th annual Exceptional Woman Awards presented by radio station 106.7FM WMJX Boston.

Novelist and Hollywood Personality David Benioff: He’s a Former English Teacher

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0f46c4db2fc80ac1d188b2.L._V375855439_[1]Many avid readers may be familiar with the blockbuster book City of Thieves by David Benioff. But did you know the author was a former English teacher? This talented educator has made his mark as a consummate novelist, screenwriter, and television producer. He is perhaps best known as the co-creator of the HBO series Game of Thrones.

David was born on September 25, 1970, in New York City. He is the youngest of three children of Barbara (Benioff) and Stephen Friedman, who was the senior partner and chairman of Goldman Sachs investment firm, an advisor to President George W. Bush, and the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. As a young boy, David gravitated to all things literary, fancying comic books and classic far-flung fantasy such as Homer’s Iliad and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. His imagination was supplemented by an affinity for playing the video game Dungeons & Dragons.

David, who changed his surname to his mother’s maiden name of Benioff while in his teens, graduated from the exclusive New York City secondary school called The Collegiate School. He then enrolled at Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 1992. David earned his a master’s degree at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, writing his thesis on Samual Beckett.

After he graduated form college, David worked at various jobs, including a stint as a club bouncer, a radio disc jockey, and a high school English teacher at Poly Prep in Brooklyn, New York, where he also served as the school’s wrestling coach.  In 1999, David returned to school, completing the requirements for a second master’s degree in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine, in 1999.

While working as a high school English teacher, David wrote his first book called The 25th Hour, which earned him many accolades. He later adapted the book into a screenplay, which was made into a film directed by Spike Lee and starring Edward Norton. In 2004, David then wrote a collection of short stories titled When the Nines Roll Over (And Other Stories) and a screenplay about the Greek myth Troy which earned him $2.5 million from Warner Brothers pictures. That same year, he was hired to write the screenplay for the X-Men spin-off   X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The following year, David wrote the script for the psychological thriller Stay, which was adapted into a film directed by Marc Forster and starred Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts. His 2007 screenplay for The Kite Runner, adapted from the novel of the same name, marked his second collaboration with director Marc Forster. In 2008, David’s second novel, City of Thieves, was published. He is currently working on an adapted screenplay of the Charles R. Cross biography of Kurt Cobain. He is also working with D.B. Weiss as the executive producer of Game of Thrones, HBO’s adaptation of George R.R. Martine’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels, which David read and enjoyed as a teen.

David’s work in Hollywood has earned several awards. He has won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, and the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

High School English Teacher Ann Turner Cook: She is the Iconic Face of the Gerber Baby!

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original[1]Did you know that the iconic image of the healthy, happy baby with the sparkling eyes and the inquisitive look on Gerber baby products grew up to become a high school English teacher? That’s right!

The name of that irresistible baby is Anne Turner Cook. She was born on November 20, 1926, the daughter of Leslie Turner, a syndicated cartoonist who drew the comic strip Captain Easy for more than a decade. In 1928, when Anne was only five months old,  the Gerber company announced they were seeking images of a baby to use on the packaging of their upcoming line of baby foods. Artist Dorothy Hope Smith, a neighbor of the Turner family, submitted a charcoal sketch of Ann, promising to finish the drawing if it was selected. Smith’s drawing competed with thousands of entries, including many elaborate oil paintings, but the judges fell in love with this baby’s cherubic face and, when choosing it as the winner, insisted that the simple illustration remain a sketch. The image was trademarked in 1931, and it has been used on Gerber baby food packaging ever since.

When she grew up, Ann attended the University of South Florida and other post-secondary schools, where she studied education, English, and journalism. She earned several degrees, including a master’s degree in English Education. After completing her education, Ann became a teacher at Oak Hill Elementary in Tampa, Florida, later transferring to the English Department at Madison Junior High School. In 1966, she accepted a position at Hillsborough High School, also in Tampa, where she taught literature and creative writing. In 1972, her students dedicated their school yearbook, the Hillsborean, to their beloved teacher, who had personally sponsored the book. In it, her students described her as “a teacher who really communicates with the students,” and who, “without any complaints, has stayed late, worked nights, and with quiet efficiency supported her staff in their monumental task.”

Ann’s career as an educator spanned twenty-six years. After retiring, this talented teacher became a successful novelist. A member of the Mystery Writers of America, she is the author of the Brandy O’Bannon series of mystery novels set on Florida’s Gulf Coast. The adventures of Florida reporter and amateur sleuth Brandy O’Bannon are described in Trace Their Shadows, published in 2001, Shadow Over Cedar Key, published in 2003, and Micanopy in Shadow, published in 2008.