Teacher wins state VFW award

Elementary school teacher Elizabeth Babchak has a passion for patriotism that carries over into the classroom. Her father was a veteran of World War II. She tells her students about the sacrifices made by America's veterans. One of her former students is an instructor at West Point.

The Cape Girardeau woman's commitment to teaching good citizenship has won her statewide recognition from the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Last month she won the Missouri VFW's statewide Citizenship Education Teacher Award.

Babchak, a second-grade teacher at Trinity Lutheran School in Cape Girardeau, teaches her students about the duties of citizenship, including voting. She talks about American flag etiquette -- including making sure the flag doesn't touch the ground -- and the importance of paying taxes to fund the state, local and federal governments. Babchak talks to her second-graders about the Pledge of Allegiance and its meaning. As a teacher in a parochial school, Babchak said, she finds it easy to talk about "one nation under God."

"It means a little bit more to us," she said.

She'll now compete for the national teacher award, which will be announced in August at the VFW national convention in Kansas City, Mo.

Babchak earlier won the local and district awards for best elementary school (kindergarten through fifth grade) educator.

Other winners at the local level, nominated by Cape Girardeau VFW Post 3838, were junior high school teacher Barb Randolph and Central High School teacher Bill Springer.

Cape Girardeau VFW member Tom Berkbigler headed the committee that selected the local winners. Berkbigler said Babchak's passion for patriotism and for the importance of good citizenship came through in her interview. She doesn't just go through the motions in teaching her students about citizenship, he said. "She believes in what she is doing."

Berkbigler, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve and veteran of the war in Iraq, said this was the first year the local VFW participated in the teacher award program. "I wanted to do it because we have a lot of good teachers around here," he said.

Babchak has taught elementary school children for 31 years, all of it at Trinity Lutheran School. She said second-graders show a natural interest in patriotism. "At this age, they are always excited about it," she said. "We always talk about how blessed we are in this country."

mbliss@semissourian.com

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