THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 9, 1994 TAG: 9412070194
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 4P EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Three young teachers at Fairfield Elementary School have put a new twist on the word ``veteran'' as it applies to education.
In fact, the three are veterans of the armed services turned teachers, an approach to defending one's country that ``brings the battlefield from the military to the classroom,'' said fifth-grade teacher Marty Charters, one of the three new teachers.
Charters, 36, uses his 11 years of experience as a Navy officer to foster leadership abilities in his students.
``He marches his kids down the hall, and they love it,'' said teacher Colleen Ryan, a Marine Corps veteran who thinks she, also, has a lot to offer her students in the way of positive role modeling.
``I tell them, `We're burning daylight,' and they know that means we're wasting time'' in military jargon, she said.
And special education teacher Gail Cuthbertson agrees that preparing students for life is every bit as challenging as anything she encountered during her four years in the Army medical corps.
The rigorous Army training taught her how to set students ``on fire and keep them there,'' said Cuthbertson, 40. She teaches orthopedically impaired students at Fairfield.
``It's just very challenging to see them do little things, to get real excited over a one-minute thing,'' said Cuthbertson.
``I've dodged torpedoes, and this is just as exciting,'' said Charters, who reminds himself frequently, ``you trained for the game seven years, and now you're going to do it.''
Special education students are a special challenge, said Charters. ``It's life and death of children, a challenge to hook'' them on learning. ``We're saving lives every day,'' said Ryan. Both teachers have a handful of special needs students.
``When the kids see pictures like this, they can't believe it,'' said Ryan, taking out a photo of herself in military fatigues.
Ryan, in particular, is delighted to be involved in the battle to save young minds, for she is from a family that served in every war the United States has been involved in since World War II. In fact, between them, her family members have served 55 years in the Marines.
And Principal Sophia Stubblefield is glad to have the three veteran teachers on board.
``Their different perspectives, multicultural, gives students more perspective on the world,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by NANCY LEWIS
Fairfield Elementary School teachers, from left, Gail Cuthbertson,
Colleen Ryan and Marty Charters, who have all served in the armed
forces, give new meaning to the term ``veteran'' teachers.
Photo
Richard Charters
As a Navy ensign in 1987
Photo
Colleen Ryan
As a Marine Corps captain
by CNB