LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Mary Jane Strader's nominator would like to remain anonymous.

Mrs. Strader was a late bloomer as an art teacher. Her first teaching position was in special education in California. When she started a family, she set teaching aside until her children were well on their way. She was a practicing artist over the years, and she decided to return to college to get her art teaching certificate at the age of 48. While some told her she was too old and no one would give her a job, she was undaunted and continued toward her goal.

Toledo Public Schools hired her, and within a year, she also obtained a Masters in her field while teaching at Lagrange Elementary, a Title I School. She also worked very hard to earn National Board Certification, a highly respected organization that was “designed to develop, retain, and recognize accomplished teachers and to generate ongoing improvement in schools.”

Throughout her career, she continued to explore and develop new, exciting ways to inspire her students. She was always looking for ways to enhance her program. She would purchase prints and artifacts to show the students examples of great art. Mrs. Strader was always working to enhance her students' experience with the arts and help them understand the importance of the arts through history. She applied to and was granted the Picturing America project from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), which brought American art masterpieces into the classroom through magnificent full-size posters. 

Mrs. Strader was a tireless teacher, always coming early and staying late. In addition to preparing materials for upcoming lessons, she would stay late hanging art displays in the halls of the schools or preparing displays for programs. She organized the Artist in Residence program for Lagrange Elementary. The program offered a variety of performing artists, such as the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, drumming lessons, Jazz ensembles, Toledo Opera, and a wonderful storyteller with whom she collaborated.

For one Toledo Opera performance, she had her eighth graders create large paper cranes to hang over the performers while they told the story, in song, of Sadako, a Japanese child suffering from leukemia in a Hiroshima hospital. She firmly believes that art can be a catalyst for understanding history and other cultures. When working with the story teller, Mrs. Strader responded to the story about the rights that children of the world deserve. The students brought in old shoes that became the support for a variety themes that they chose, such as the right for shelter, nutrition, education, safety, a space for play, and for dreaming, and more. The project was called “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” and was displayed at an art gallery in Toledo along with other art from Lagrange Elementary and other schools in the district.

When Lagrange Elementary was closed and torn down, Mrs. Strader transferred to Chase STEM Academy, which was also a Title I school. There, she demonstrated that art is a perfect support for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Each year, she reconfigured the STEM to STEAM during the annual art and science show. After one of the STEAM shows, she was asked to give a presentation at a state convention for STEM education. The topic was how the arts support Ohio students in becoming innovators and inventors, self-reliant, logical thinkers, and technologically proficient problem solvers. Mrs. Strader demonstrated that the arts should be considered a vital part of a child’s education. She believes that the arts can reach all students at all levels, and that they help motivate students who wouldn't be reached otherwise.

When it became necessary, Mrs. Strader rallied with other teachers to fight for the arts in education when they were nearly cut from the curriculum. With the support of the community, cohorts, and the research findings that illustrate that visual learning is an important part of a child’s whole education, her group was successful in saving the arts in their school district.

Mrs. Strader was motivated by a strong belief that the arts support a child’s self-esteem. Every year, no matter which school she taught in, she would have an after-school art club. At Lagrange Elementary, the students made fun projects for their own pleasure, as well as small Christmas gifts for the two homeless shelters in the neighborhood. The students boxed up their gifts and walked to each shelter to present their creations. Their generous, thoughtful presentations were warmly received. The students felt a sense of pride and joy when giving to those in need in their community.

At Edgewater Elementary, the students created special art for the spring art festival each year, which included other elementary schools. One group creation was a re-purposed project inspired by Dale Chihuly’s magnificent hanging glass sculptures. To this day, their creation made from recycled plastic bottles, wire, and paint is hanging in the front entrance of the school.

Mrs. Strader finished her career at Beverly Elementary, also a Title I school. She started off 2020 with a school-wide art show. Every student in the school had art in the show. Volunteers helped set up the show after school in the cafeteria only for it to come down at the end of the evening. It was a delight to witness the enthusiasm of the art club students working before, during and after the show. The art club made ornaments to sell during the show, and the table was manned by hard-working eighth grade students. Having students make and sell items to support the art club was a valuable lesson in economics. They managed to sell over $100, which was used to buy special art materials for the club which could not have been available for their projects.  Mrs. Strader routinely spent a great deal of her own money to buy additional supplies at the local art supply store to supplement materials for Art Club and the classroom so their efforts allowed her to present more advanced projects.

In March, Mrs. Strader was ready to hang the spring art festival at one of the high schools. The day before, she received notice the schools were closing, and the art show was cancelled, like so many other activities. Everything was ready, but she had to walk away and leave her room not knowing when she could return. She started communicating to her students and their families on Facebook, sending some suggestions of how to practice art at home. One suggestion was to paint rocks and put them around the neighborhood. She had painted on rocks herself and shared the images with the families. In the end, she had enough painted rocks to give to each student in The Art Club.

In May, there was a pick-up day where parents could drive to the school and receive a bag of items that students had in their rooms and lockers. The rocks were placed in the bags to be picked up by each student in the art club. Mrs. Strader quickly photographed the art that had been waiting to be in an art show. The plan was to create a virtual art show. All of that art, plus everything that was hanging throughout the school, had to be taken down so everything could be returned to the students and their families.

At this point, it was evident that Mrs. Strader would not be able to say goodbye to all her amazing students in person. She sent her regrets of not being able to say goodbye in person in a letter posted on the Beverly Facebook. It was a sad ending to a very happy year and her career of teaching art. Retiring meant she would not be able to wish them well in person and would not be getting all the hugs she was used to getting every day.

However, Mrs. Strader had one final thing to do for the students - the virtual art show. With the help of a friend and Windows Movie Maker, she created an amazing art show with text, music, animations, and special effects. It was a great success and became a tribute to her years of teaching and to the talent and imagination of her students.

"Mrs. Strader showed her dedication to the students and her desire to celebrate their successes, even when the traditional ways were not an option," said her nominator. "She has been an amazing addition to each school throughout her career."