People
Flying High

Indiana teacher Richard Beamer trusts his students with his life. Last fall Beamer fulfilled his longtime dream of flying west at treetop level--in a plane built by his fifth-grade students at Southwood Elementary School.

Under Beamer's guidance, students assembled an ultralight, 1930s-style, tube and cloth airplane that took Beamer, a licensed pilot, from Wabash, Indiana, to Seattle, Washington. He traveled for five weeks with a laptop computer and e-mailed journal entries to students during his journey. Beamer received a $2,000 grant from The NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education to help fund the project.

In addition to preparing for Beamer's trip, students learned how to make webpages, correspond by e-mail, and write online reports about their teacher's progress. Beamer incorporated aviation themes into his reading, writing, math, and geography lessons as well.

Beamer's classes had followed other teachers' adventures on the Internet for years, until Beamer decided it was time his students designed their own project. In 1999, his students constructed an ultralight airplane that Beamer flew from Wabash to Bloomington, Indiana. The next year, his class assembled a plane that took their intrepid instructor to San Diego, California, and back. For a change of pace in 2001, Beamer canoed down the Wabash, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers to Memphis, Tennessee, sending pictures and journal entries to his students along the way.

To follow Beamer's adventure, visit www.msdwc.k12.in.us/ses/2002seattle/seaindex.htm. To find out more about NEA Foundation grants, visit www.nfie.org.

--Irene Arce

Brain Busters

Every Saturday afternoon, students in Pennsylvania can tune in to see classmates flex their academic muscles on a television quiz show developed by Richard Rosen.

"Capital Blue Cross Brain Busters," which began airing about a year ago, features two high school teams in an academic showdown. The show launched its second season in October.

During the half-hour show, Rosen, who also acts as the show's host, challenges students with questions in "every conceivable subject area," he says, from science and literature to pop culture. The team with the most points at the end of the game advances to the next round of competition, until one team triumphs at the end of the season. Members of the championship team split $10,000 in scholarship money and $2,500 cash. They also receive tickets to Hershey Park for students at their school.

"We're trying to elevate our participants to heroes, just like we do with athletics," says Rosen, who teaches gifted students at four elementary schools. "We're committed to academic excellence."

--Kristen Loschert

Table Tennis Anyone?

Rhoda Samkoff is familiar with the phrase "ping pong," a term coined by the Milton Bradley Company back when the leisure activity was confined to the parlor. But what Samkoff plays is table tennis, the highly competitive worldwide sport that has become her passion during the past eight years.

Samkoff, a social studies teacher at Glenwood Elementary School in Millburn, New Jersey, turned to a local table tennis club after an ankle injury forced her to quit ice dancing. Table tennis, which is an Olympic sport in almost every country except the United States, has enabled Samkoff and her team to meet people from all corners of the world. Her training partner, Anani Lawson, hails from Togo, Africa, and Samkoff has traveled to Manchester, England, to face opponents. Last year, Samkoff placed fourth in the women's event at the New Jersey State Championships.

Each school year at Glenwood begins with a table tennis exhibition, where Samkoff and a guest player entertain and impress teachers and students with trick shots set to music. But Samkoff also enjoys "infusing the sport with a new generation of eager players" through her after-school table tennis club, the only one in the Millburn school district. As a certified instructor, she wants to "lend credibility" to the sport and offer students the chance to learn skills in a casual environment, where gender, strength, and skill level do not matter. The school maintains a lengthy waiting list of students eager to join the club.

Samkoff ends each school year with a student tournament. Winners receive trophies from Samkoff's private collection, ones she's collected from her own competitions through the years.

--Lauren Fischer

All Smiles

As a teacher in Johnson City, Tennessee, Carol Transou noticed how children with dental problems often were teased and, as a result, shied away from classroom activities that brought them attention.

"You might have children who do really well, but when you call on them, they put their hand over their mouth," says Transou, an NEA-Retired member. "You know that teasing is the reason." Poor children were predominantly the ones who couldn't have their dental problems corrected, Transou adds.

That memory pushed Transou to launch Project Smile, a local program that provides selected low-income students with dental care and braces. The Sunshine Lady Foundation gave an initial grant of $10,000, provided that Transou raise a matching amount locally. Johnson City dentists agreed to help with routine care and all five local orthodontists agreed to outfit students with braces at cost. The students' parents pay a nominal fee or an equivalent in-service, and Project Smile picks up the rest of the tab--about $2,000 per child.

Transou has raised more than $50,000 for the program so far.

"I'm hoping we can help to make some life changes for students," she says. "This could certainly be something that gives a child an opportunity for a better life."

--John O'Neil

Creating Champions

Logan High School teacher Tommie Lindsey Jr. sets high expectations for his students as he prepares them for California's forensics competitions. And they meet his standards by delivering powerful speeches and cogent arguments, and, ultimately, by winning.

Lindsey's efforts received national attention in the PBS documentary "Accidental Hero--Room 408," which aired in September. The program documents the inspiring role Lindsey plays in the lives of his students, most of them minorities from low-income families. By developing the skills they need to win in forensics, a field traditionally dominated by affluent white students, Lindsey's students prove that students of color can succeed. His teams have won four state championships in the last seven years.

Lindsey's students learn more than just how to sustain coherent arguments. They learn about diversity and teamwork, while they build self esteem, poise, and confidence. Nearly all of Lindsey's forensics students go to college.

Lindsey enjoys watching reluctant students blossom in the forensics program as they develop the necessary skills to succeed. "It's satisfying to take the student who many others considered a troublemaker and watch him turn into a champion," he says.

--Irene Arce