Teachers sometimes become known at their schools for noteworthy accomplishments outside of their classrooms.
Examples of these activities could be coaching sports, advising clubs and organizations, or spearheading projects such as community cleanups or food donation drives.
Riverside High School social studies teacher Jenny Cavell, over the course of her 25-year career, has worked to develop ties between the school and the veteran and military communities.
Cavell has helped connect the school with local veteran posts, honor veterans at the high school campus and recognize students who enlist. She also runs the school’s annual Veterans Day brunch.
For all those efforts, she recently was recognized by the Ohio Veterans of Foreign Wars organization as its High School Teacher of the Year, The News-Herald’s Bryson Durst reported. That also means she is eligible to be selected as the national VFW’s High School Teacher of the Year.
Cavell said she was humbled by the recognition.
“The VFW members from across the state who attended this event have served our country, and yet they continue to serve by recognizing and giving back to their communities,” she said.
Cavell was nominated by Leroy-Thompson VFW Post 7939 upon the suggestion of Riverside teacher Jody Calhoun, who is married to post Quartermaster Mike Calhoun.
Jody Calhoun described the nomination as a “no-brainer.”
“Didn’t even take me a second to think about it,” she said. “Jenny Cavell has done so much. Not only in the past, she’s done so much, but she continues to do so much. So it was an easy nomination.”
Calhoun added that the regional VFW District 7 chose Cavell “immediately.” She found out that Cavell had been chosen at the state level in December.
The Riverside School District described Cavell as the high school social studies department chair and military family liaison.
She said that the liaison role is “informal.”
“I have some contacts with the local VFW posts and the American Legion posts to help promote and inform students of the opportunities they provide them,” Cavell said.
She said that those posts support the school with scholarships and other opportunities. Students can also see how veterans give back to the community outside of military service.
Cavell also served on the committee that worked to bring the Veterans Memorial to the high school campus.
The project includes an outdoor Wall of Honor at the high school football stadium and an indoor touchscreen kiosk near the auditorium. The kiosk shows students and staff members who have served in the military.
The school also holds an annual Veterans Day brunch, which Cavell said she asked to launch 11 years ago. She was inspired by Honor Flight, which brings World War II veterans to the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.
“I proposed my idea to my building principal to bring the veterans in our community into the building and have students read letters of gratitude and provide them lunch,” she said. “I thought that just hearing the words ‘thank you’ from our students could be a small way to honor their service.”
She is also involved in the school’s annual military signing day, which recognizes students who are preparing to enter military service after graduation.
Cavell’s appreciation for service members dates to her childhood. Her dad is a U.S. Navy veteran, and her grandfather was a nose gunner in the Pacific theater of World War II.
“What is remarkable is that not only did he survive that as an 18-year-old,” she said. “He came home and he raised his family and he was modeling what we would want our kids to model, the values we’d want them to model, and he is a huge part of this for me. It’s a way to honor him.”
Riverside Principal Mike Hall said that ties to the military and veteran communities have become part of the school district’s identity.
“She’s the catalyst behind it,” Hall said. “You have to have people like this.”
Cavell said that she has had support from the district and from community members. The school received donations to make the veteran projects possible. Supporters also volunteered their time and contributed services at-cost.
Hall said that is a testament to how the community feels about Cavell and the district.
“I hope the events we hold can show our veteran/military community that the Riverside Local Schools are grateful for the freedoms we hold so dear,” Cavell said. “They deserve to be thanked and they deserve our support.”
The News-Herald salutes Cavell for earning the High School Teacher of the Year award from the Ohio VFW. Based on all that she’s achieved at Riverside High School which involves veterans and the military, she is truly a worthy recipient of this impressive honor.