When Margo VanDenBossche first started teaching, her students asked her what her favorite cartoon or book character was.
“I’m an introverted person. Eeyore strikes a chord with me. Even when he doesn’t want to talk, his friends love him anyway,” she said of the donkey character from the Winnie the Pooh books and animated features.
VanDenBossche’s third grade classroom at Saint Peter’s School in Waldorf, Maryland, contains dozens of stuffed animal Eeyores of all shapes and sizes, along with Eeyore coffee mugs, pillows and other items, given to her by students and their families since she has taught there for the past 14 years, and earlier when she taught at the now-closed St. Hugh’s School in Greenbelt from 2003-2010.
The veteran teacher added, “I don’t think in third grade there’s an introvert. I can talk all day to the third graders.”
Her third grade classroom also includes purple shelves, curtains, bulletin board paper, binders, water bottles, ink pens and more, reflecting her favorite color.
And on the morning of April 15 at a surprise assembly at the school’s Sank Auditorium – named for Father Henry Sank, the pastor who founded Saint Peter’s in 1956 as an integrated school in Southern Maryland – the 270 students in prekindergarten through the eighth grade there cheered and waved gold-colored pom-poms as Christina Mendez-Hall, the assistant superintendent for Catholic identity and accreditation in the Catholic Schools Office of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, announced that Margo VanDenBossche is one of 10 Golden Apple Award winning teachers for this school year.
The Golden Apple teachers, who will be honored at a May 16 dinner, will each receive a golden apple and a monetary award of $5,000 from the Donahue Family Foundation, which sponsors the annual award for teaching excellence and dedication to Catholic education.
VanDenBosche wept tears of joy at the ovation she received from Saint Peter’s students, teachers and staff, and hugged and high-fived her third graders, who waved purple-colored pom-poms reflecting her signature color.
Joining her was her husband Chuck VanDenBossche, a fellow U.S. Army veteran. Their son Justin is now serving in the Army. After the ceremony, she posed for a group photo with her 25 third graders.
Later, Margo VanDenBossche joked about her show of emotion. “I’m a wreck,” she said, laughing. “It was a big surprise.”
She added, “When I came in and saw all of them… I’ve taught almost every student (here). To see their faces and know they were cheering for me, there’s no words.”
In an interview as the ceremony ended, Tina Wagner, Saint Peter’s principal, noted that when many eighth graders over the years have written essays about their school experience there, they have highlighted VanDenBossche as their favorite teacher.
“She has a great imagination,” Wagner said. “She takes the kids in all kinds of places in her classes. She makes learning fun for them… We’re very blessed to have her.”
In an essay nominating VanDenBossche for the award, Saint Peter’s first grade teacher Meagan Kimm said her colleague has “never met a child that she couldn’t teach. Her willingness to meet a student’s learning needs is something that cannot be taught in teacher preparation programs.”
VanDenBossche, she said, has empathy for the difficulties that students face and makes them feel cared for, and she inspires students “to want to learn and want to come to school each day.”
Kimm noted how teachers refer to VanDenBossche’s third graders as “her ducklings following closely behind her. Even at recess, they want to be near their teacher.”
The first grade teacher added that she has also learned from her colleague and friend, who mentored her when she began teaching at St. Hugh’s School and now teaches with her at Saint Peter’s.
VanDenBossche, who lives in Upper Marlboro and attends St. Edward the Confessor Parish in Bowie, is a cantor leading singing at Masses there and at school Masses. She also volunteers with a food pantry and supports fundraisers for the Wounded Warrior Project. In 2011, she received the Manifesting the Kingdom Award from the archdiocese for her service to the Church and the community.
Reflecting on her Army service, VanDenBossche said, “I was a military police officer. I’m very routine oriented. My third graders thrive knowing that routine. There’s very few surprises.”
One of her greatest blessings as a teacher, she said, is “when a student who has struggled gets that ‘oh’ moment where it all connects.”
She hopes that when they leave her class and move on to the fourth grade, her students know “that they’re loved by God, and they can always come back.”
In an essay where she reflected on her life as a Catholic school teacher, VanDenBossche wrote, “Almost 700 third graders have passed through my classroom in the last 21 years.” She said she hopes students gain a better understanding of their faith, and a yearning “to continue to grow in love of God and others.”
VanDenBossche explained in that essay how she hopes students see that God works in their lives and leads them on His path.
“I am a convert to Catholicism and find the ‘smells and bells,’ the traditions and liturgical flow of the seasons (as) an anchor in my life. I am able to share with my students a faith journey that has enriched my life and brought me ultimately into our classroom,” she wrote.
Teaching in a Catholic school “is the path God laid out for my life,” VanDenBossche wrote, saying that teaching third grade at Saint Peter’s School “is exactly where God intended me to be.”
Her school, she said, is a place where faith, love and compassion are part of every school day, and a place where “I am able to pray with and for my students.”
Concluding her essay, VanDenBossche wrote that she believes God has given her “a heart to teach” and led her to a place where she can “shape the hearts of the next generation.”
The teacher whose classroom is filled with Eeyores and the color purple added, “I don’t just teach. I am a Catholic school teacher, and we make a difference.”
