The Academic Community Mourns the Loss of Chemistry Teacher Ronald Smith, Murdered in Libya

It's always distressing to the academic community when we receive news of the senseless and tragic murder of an American overseas, and especially so when the victim is a distinguished educator. Such was the case yesterday when we learned of the death of Ronald Thomas Smith, II, an American chemistry teacher who has spent more than a year teaching at an international school in Libya. The thirty-three-year-old teacher was shot and killed by Islamic militants Thursday in Benghazi, Libya, as he was taking a morning jog.

Ronald was a member of the faculty of the International School Benghazi. Mr. Peter Hodge, the school's principal, has described the slain educator as "very much loved" at the school.  On the school's Facebook page, officials posted, "He was a much-loved teacher who supported students in their learning and always had time to help when asked. Ronnie was a professional who gave his time freely and without question."

An un-named eighteen-year-old student at the school recalled, "He was the most amazing person, more like a best friend or a family member." The student added that for teenagers who were trying to cope with the turmoil that has troubled the politically unstable country, the teacher was a motivator, telling them that they would be fine if they focused on their studies. "He wasn't just a teacher to all the students, though---he was a brother," recalled Abdulrahman Bader, a sixteen-year-old student, in an email to The Associated Press. "He was the heart of the school."
Originally from Warren, Michigan, Ronald graduated in 1997 from Woods Tower High School. He attended Wayne State University in Detroit before heading to Texas. He graduated in 2006 from the University of Texas, Austin, with a master's degree in chemistry. During his years in Texas, he was active in the Austin Stone Community Church. Approximately a year and a half ago, Ronald began teaching at the International School, a Libyan-owned institution that offers a British curriculum.

He leaves behind a wife and a young son, who had come home to the United States ahead of him to celebrate the holidays. We'll all miss this chalkboard champion.

Our Champion: Nelson Mandela

Tributes are pouring in from all over the globe to praise former South African prisoner and president Nelson Mandela, who passed away yesterday at the age of 95. "We have lost one of the most influential, courageous, and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this Earth," said President Barack Obama in a nationally televised address shortly after the news of Nelson’s death was announced. Former President Bill Clinton agreed. "History will remember Nelson Mandela as a champion for human dignity and freedom, for peace and reconciliation," he declared. "We will remember him as a man of uncommon grace and compassion, for whom abandoning bitterness and embracing adversaries was not just a political strategy, but a way of life."

Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, in the village of Mvezo in Umtatu, which at that time was a part of South Africa's Cape Province. A member of the Xhosa group, he was born into the Thembu royal family. At birth he was given the name Rolihlahla, which translated means "troublemaker." On his first day of school, Nelson once recalled, his teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave each student an English name. "This was the custom among Africans in those days, and was undoubtedly due to the British bias of our education," Nelson explained. "That day, Miss Mdingane told me that my new name was Nelson. Why this particular name, I have no idea." Today, the elder statesman is often referred to by his clan name, Madiba.

A big believer in the value of education, Nelson was himself an educated man. As a young child, his mother entrusted Nelson into the care of royal relatives, and while with his Thembu guardians, Nelson was enrolled in a Methodist mission school located next to the palace. At this school he studied the English and Xhosa languages, history, and geography. During this time, Nelson developed a deep appreciation for African culture and history. Later, he attended Clarkebury Boarding Institute in Engcobo, the largest school for black Africans in Thembuland, and then he transferred to Healdtown, the Methodist college in Fort Beaufort attended by most Thembu royalty. Next, Nelson attended the University of Fort Hare, a prestigious public university located in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa. At the time of Nelson's enrollment, the University of Fort Hare was a prominent institution of higher education for black Africans. The facility offered a Western-style, academically rigorous education to elite students from across sub-Saharan Africa. Fort Hare alumni were integrally involved in many of the independence movements and governments of newly independent African countries. After Fort Hare, Nelson attended the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, where he studied law. Commonly referred to as Wits University, this institution is the third oldest university in continuous operation in South Africa.

All his life, Nelson was an unwavering supporter and advocate for education. He used his extensive educational background and his personal life experiences to achieve sweeping political changes in South Africa, including the elimination of apartheid. Nelson once said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Although he was not a teacher in the "certificated" sense, Nelson Mandela taught each one of us how to be a better person, how to treat each other with respect and dignity, and how to make our world a better place. For these amazing accomplishments, he is a truly our champion.

Walter K. Wesbrook: This Chalkboard Champion Was Also A Tennis Great and Track Star

Very often talented athletes go on to become gifted educators and coaches. Such is the case with Walter Kenneth Wesbrook, a champion tennis player from the University of Michigan who became an exceptional coach at Polytechnic High School in Pasadena, California.

Walter was born in 1898 in Detroit, Michigan. After his high school graduation, he attended the University of Michigan, where it quickly became obvious he was a stellar athlete in tennis. The left-hander won the Big Ten doubles title with tennis partner Nicholas Bartz in 1919, and he garnered the singles titles in 1919 and 1920. In 1921, a ruptured appendix kept him from winning the singles title a third time. In addition, in 1920, Walter reached the singles and doubles finals at the Cincinnati Masters Tournament, but he was eliminated in the singles competition in four tough sets to Hennessey. With partner Kenneth Simmons, he lost the doubles final to the team of Hennessey and Fritz Bastian in five sets. By 1921, Walter was named a coach at Michigan, and the one season he was there went 8–3. In 1923, Walter reached the doubles final at the US Clay Court Championship with his tennis partner, John Hennesey. The pair were defeated by brothers  Howard and Robert Kinsey of San Francisco. Later that year, Walter won the Western Lawn Tennis Association championship over George Lott.

In addition to tennis, Walter also competed in the pole vault and long jump for the Michigan Wolverines track team. He could pole vault 12 feet and long jump 23 feet.

After his playing career, Wesbrook became a teacher and tennis coach at the Polytechnic School in Pasadena. He also competed many times in the Senior Olympics, and he still holds numerous national track and field records for the 75-79 and 80-84 age groups.

This chalkboard champion passed away in Los Angeles in January, 1991, at the age of 92.

Loren Spears: Native American Teacher and Cultural Educator

Many talented and dedicated educators work diligently to foster an appreciation for the cultures of under-represented ethnic groups. One such educator is Loren Spears, a teacher, essayist, artist, and tribal council woman of the Narragansett Tribe in Rhode Island.

As a youngster, Loren attended Chariho Regional High School in her home town of Charleston, a rural village in southern Rhode Island. After her high school graduation, she earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education and teaching at the University of Rhode Island, graduating in 1988. She earned her master's degree in education at the University of New England in 2002.

Loren's teaching career spanned two decades and included twelve years as a first grade and fourth grade teacher in the Newport Public School system working with at-risk children. Throughout her professional career, Loren has always been a strong advocate for integrating more Native American history and experiential learning into school curriculum. Loren says she remembers, "being in a history class during my elementary days and actually reading that I supposedly didn't exist, that my family didn't exist, that my people didn't exist." She has spent much of her adult life correcting that misimpression.

In addition to her professional accomplishments as a teacher, Loren works as the executive director and curator of the Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum in Exeter, Rhode Island. The museum was the site of a private, state-certified school, the Nuweetooun School, which this talented educator directed from 2003 to 2010. Nuweetooun, which translates as "Our Home" in the Narragansett language, was founded by Loren with the help of the Narragansett community and generous donations, including monies from a local charity, the Narragansett Tribe, and the Rhode Island Foundation. Though Loren is Narragansett, the school is not connected to any specific tribe. As the school's director, Loren made sure that the Nuweetooun School provided Native American children from kindergarten through the eighth grade an experiential, collaborative curriculum based on Native American traditions and culture, as well as standard academic subjects including mathematics, language arts, social studies, science, and health.

In June, 2005, Loren received the Feinstein Salute to Teachers, Teacher of the Month. In 2006, she earned the Native Heritage Gathering Award, and in 2010, Loren was chosen as one of eleven Extraordinary Women honorees for Rhode Island in the area of education. Today, this chalkboard champion lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and uses her vast energy to focus on educating the public on indigenous issues, arts, culture, and history through cultural arts programming, lectures, art classes, inter-generational programming, grant writing, exhibit development and design, curriculum development, school design, Native American education, and educational consulting.

Leonard Skinner: The Physical Education Teacher That Inspired the Band Lynyrd Skynyrd

Many talented and dedicated educators earn recognition in fields outside of education, but occasionally a great teacher becomes known for the accomplishments of his students. Such was the case of Florida physical education teacher Leonard Skinner, who inspired his former students to name their band after him. The band's name? Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Forby Leonard Skinner was born January 11, 1933, in Jacksonville, Florida. As a youngster he attended Robert E. Lee High School, where he graduated in 1951. Leonard enrolled in Jacksonville Junior College on a basketball scholarship, but his education was cut short when he was drafted into the US Army. After he was discharged, Leonard enrolled at Florida State University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in physical education in 1957.

Leonard first taught at Glynn Academy in Glynn County, Georgia, but for most of his career, he was a physical education at his alma mater, Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, Florida. Among his former students were several members of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, including Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, and Bob Burns, who were students at Robert E. Lee in the 1960s.
According to legend, Leonard's strict enforcement of a policy against long hair inspired the members to name their band after him. The gym teacher, a stickler for by-the-book procedures, sent Rossington and others to the principal's office for violating a school policy prohibiting long hair. Over time, Burns, Rossington, and other band members developed a series of running jokes about their teacher, until ultimately they decided to pay tongue-in-cheek homage to their flat-topped coach by renaming their group Lynyrd Skynyrd. When interviewed in January, 2009, Leonard abashedly told reporters he was just following the district policy. "It was against the school rules," he said. "I don't particularly like long hair on men, but again, it wasn't my rule." Of his former students, Leonard remembered, "They were good, talented, hard-working boys. They worked hard, lived hard and boozed hard."

Towards the end of his career, Leonard taught at Jacksonville Technical High School, where he retired in 1970. During his retirement, he became a real estate broker and tavern owner, but he maintained contact with his former students. In 1975, he even allowed the band to use a photograph of his "Leonard Skinner Realty" sign for the inside of their third album, Nuthin' Fancy. The band also performed at his tavern called The Still.
In January 2009, Leonard's home town of Jacksonville hosted an event called "A Tribute to Coach Leonard Skinner & Southern Rock" at the National Guard Armory. At the time, the Jacksonville newspaper wrote, "He was just a regular Westside guy, a coach and businessman with a strong code of honor, a disciplinarian at home and at school."
On September 20, 2010, Leonard passed away at a nursing home in Riverside, Florida. He was 77, and had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for several years. In his obituary, The Florida Times-Union called him "the no-nonsense, flat-topped basketball coach and gym teacher whose name is forever linked with Jacksonville's legendary Lynyrd Skynyrd." The New York Times described him as "arguably the most influential high school gym teacher in American popular culture."

Math Teacher Kay Toliver: A True Chalkboard Champion

Many chalkboard champions have been recognized nationally for creating innovative and dynamic programs in their subject area. One such educator in Kay Toliver of New York City.

Kay was born and raised in East Harlem and the South Bronx. As a youngster, she attended Harriet Beecher Stowe Junior High, Walton High School, and Hunter College, where she earned her bachelor's degree in 1967 and her master's degree in 1971. Additionally, Kay completed graduate work in mathematics at the City College of New York.

For more than 30 years, Kay taught mathematics and communication arts at P.S. 72/East Harlem Tech in Community School District 4. Prior to instructing seventh and eighth grade students, she taught grades one through six for 15 years. "Becoming a teacher was the fulfillment of a childhood dream," she once said. "My parents always stressed that education was the key to a better life. By becoming a teacher, I hoped to inspire African-American and Hispanic youths to realize their own dreams. I wanted to give something back to the communities I grew up in."

At East Harlem Tech, with the support of her principal, Kay established the "Challenger" program for grades 4-8. The program presents the basics of geometry and algebra within an integrated curriculum. The program was designed for gifted students; however, because of her strong belief that all students can learn, she accepted pupils from all ability levels.

The program offers events that are similar to science fairs but involve students in creating and displaying projects related to mathematics. Participants had to be able to explain thoroughly the mathematical theories and concepts behind their projects, which were placed on display at the school so that students from the lower grades could examine the older students' research. Students have created mathematic games such as Dunking for Prime Numbers, Fishing for Palindromes, and Black Jack Geometry.

Kay also developed a lesson called the Math Trail to give students an appreciation for the community as well as an opportunity to see mathematics at work. To create a Math Trail, the class must first do some research on the history of the community. Then, they are instructed to plot a course, starting from the school building, that leads the class through the community and back to school, with stops along the way to visit several sites and create math problems about various real-life situations.

To show teachers throughout the country how she creates enthusiasm for mathematics among her students, Kay has worked with the Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education (FASE) to create a number of educational video products. Most recently, she has worked with The Futures Channel to present staff development institutes and parent engagement events at schools and districts throughout the country.

For her efforts, Kay has earned many awards, including the Reliance Award for Excellence in Education, Middle School; Outstanding Teacher for Mathematics Instruction, Disney American Teacher Awards; the Kilby Award; and the Essence Award.

Kay Toliver: a true chalkboard champion.

Former First Lady of Iowa Christie Vilsack: A Champion for Literacy

Many educators find success in fields other than education, and many become accomplished in the political arena. One such teacher is Christie Vilsack, who is probably best known for being the former First lady of Iowa (1999-2007). This tireless educator is also an advocate for literacy and a politician in her own right.

Christie was born on July 9, 1950, in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. After she graduated from high school, she attended Kirkland College in Clinton, New York. It was there she met her future husband, Tom Vilsack, a promising law student. After her college graduation in 1972,the couple married and added two sons to their family.

Tom and Christie moved to Mount Pleasant in 1975. She began her career there as a teacher and a librarian. She taught language arts and journalism at the junior high school level for eighteen years, and then transferred to the high school level. She also taught English and journalism at Iowa Wesleyan College for six years. She earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of Iowa in 1992. With this degree, Christie worked as a reporter and columnist for her local newspaper, the Mount Pleasant News.

Christie became First Lady of Iowa when her husband was sworn in as the state's governor in 1999. During his first term, this enterprising former teacher created a statewide literacy program and raised money to provide a book to every kindergarten child in Iowa. In 2000, she inaugurated Iowa Stories 2000, an effort to promote reading and storytelling for Iowans of all ages. The $50,000 program was paid for by contributions from businesses and nonprofit organizations. As founder and president of the Vilsack Foundation, she partnered with the National Center for Family Literacy to promote media literacy with parents and their children.

After her husband left the governor's office, he was appointed Secretary of Agriculture in the Obama Administration. In April, 2013, Christie joined the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as the Senior Advisor for International Education. In this position, Christie will focus on children’s reading skills, work force development, and equitable access to education in crisis and conflict settings. USAID launched an agency-wide policy on education last year. The agency has helped a quarter million students with reading in Kenya, nearly a million in Mali, and 1.5 million in Egypt. Worldwide, the agency has provided tens of millions of textbooks and other teaching and learning materials to students in third-world countries.

Christie Vilsack.: a true chalkboard champion.