Lake Worth teacher treats students to new clothes
Third-graders at South Grade get summer outfits.
LAKE WORTH — The way Andrea Ible sees it, she’s more than just a schoolteacher.
“I ’ m not j us t t e a c hi ng part of the child, I teach the whole child,” said Ible, a third-grade teacher at South Grade Elementary the past five years. “There’s the academic piece, the social piece, the emotional piece. When you put them together, it makes up the whole child. When a child comes into my class sad, I have to figure out what is going on with that child before I can teach him or her or I will just be teaching a wall.”
Ible’s job can be particularly challenging because most of her students are from Guatemala.
They struggle speaking and writing English. Some have s e l f- e s t e e m i s s ue s . One student recently lost her mom to a drug overdose.
“These kids have gone through a lot of traumatic experiences,” Ible said.
Yet, they work hard and do their best to excel for a teacher they love.
To reward their efforts, Ible partnered with a group of philanthropic women, who bought summer clothes, socks and sneakers online from Mac y ’s, Target and Walmart for more than 20 students.
T h e k i d s r e c e i v e d t h e clothes in shopping bags with their names on them Wednesday morning at a one-hour celebration held in the school’s media center.
“Every year I tr y to do something special for my class,” Ible said. “I try to ease whatever burdens they have at home to create a safe place in the classroom.”
Magdalena Jose Jacit, 9, couldn’t contain her enthusiasm as she opened a box of colorful Skechers.
“Oooooh,” she cooed. “They’re so cool.”
Amy Moreno, also 9, was just as moved.
“I never had a teacher do this for me,” she said.
The idea for the celebration, which included snacks and the kids making brief presentations on various social issues (child abuse, poverty, water pollution), was hatched about a month ago when a mutual friend put Ible in touch with Carol Veahey, a semi-retired consultant with Fidelity Investments. “I enjoy helping families one on one versus going through large organizations,” said Veahey, a West Palm Beach resident.
Veahey phoned a bunch of her golfing ladie s and asked them to help the South Grade students. More than a dozen replied and bought the clothes after Ible made a list with the students’ sizes.
“We need to give back and we need to help people,” Veahey said. “Something like this is terribly simple.”
Chris Reilly was one of the women who stepped up because she could relate to what the students are going through. “My parents were immigrants and I understand when children come into this country and don’t know the language,” said Reilly, who worked in the airline industry for 40 years.
Kathy Copelin, the woman who connected Ible and Veahey, said magic happens when people net work in this way for a good cause.
“When children know that people are behind them, that allows them to go out and be kids and just worry about things that kids should worry about,” Copelin said.
Ible, who got choked up at times while thanking school staff, said her kids aren’t just students, they’re family.
“It’s important for me to make sure my students feel comfortable, that they feel safe, that they’re loved, that they’re important and that they matter,” Ible said.