"My message to all educators is (that) our schools need to seriously initiate programs which foster, promote, and fund healthy choices. 10,000 steps a day is a great start. Walking is critical to not only physical, but mental and emotional well-being. Reading food labels is a skill for the 21 st century and should be taught and practiced in all schools. Coping with stress is as important as almost any content area learning, and is a skill needed by all students as they enter the challenges and heartbreaks of adolescence. Health education from early elementary through high school needs to be a priority. It is essential for our students to understand (that) physical fitness will help to interrupt the deadly cycles of an unprecedented epidemic of childhood obesity, diabetes, and juvenile heart disease. Healthy bodies, minds, and hearts must be our message to our children in 2005."
"I have realized my greatest contribution and accomplishment in education is my commitment and passion in being a positive role model. I feel compelled to model for my students. Equally so, I remember my students must model for me. I greet my students at the door as I greet each day, with enthusiasm and a smile. I embrace the opportunity to teach them and to share another day. I model for my students exactly what I want from them. I sing with them and for them. We never keep score."
The mother of one of Ms. Babeu's former students writes: "(My daughter) was grasping that P.E. was a lifestyle for the long haul, and that physical fitness could be a pleasure, not a pain. Moving and getting active was about true health, and not a grade. Her diet changed and so did her love of fast food. The grocery cart now had surprising amounts of fruits and vegetables. She now took the initiative to ride her bike and took long walks with me. Jazzercize classes became a top priority. But as amazing as all that was, it wasn't the most impressive change this mother saw. (My daughter)'s overall confidence was blossoming, her happiness and contentment growing. Ms. Babeu's teaching style embraced sports, but she taught that the skill is empty without sportsmanship...like life itself."
Ms. Babeu graduated from Central Connecticut State College, New Britain, CT, with a Bachelors degree in Education and earned her Masters degree in Education from the University of Arizona, where she has earned post-graduate credits in Educational Leadership. Ms. Babeu was named the Flowing Wells Jr. High School Teacher of the Year in 2003-04. She has been teaching for 24 years.
