Herkimer Elementary School art teacher Heather WheelerStapf’s journey to recently winning a Genesis Group Outstanding Educator award started early in her life with roots right where she works now.
WheelerStapf grew up in Herkimer and went to kindergarten through third grade at the old East Herkimer Elementary School on Pine Grove Road right next to where the current Herkimer Elementary School is located now. The current school’s land used to be a farming field, and her father, Richard Nathaniel Wheeler, rented the spot when she was 5 or 6 years old to plant corn seed. She has memories of riding around the cornfield on a tractor in the same location where she now teaches art.
It was at the East Herkimer Elementary School in third grade, when her teacher, Mrs. Rosemary Meyers, asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, that she first stated the job she wanted to have. Without hesitation, she said, “A teacher.”
During her senior year at Herkimer High School, she realized art education was where she belonged.
WheelerStapf graduated from Buffalo State College in the spring of 1994. She was hired by Herkimer Central School District in August and started teaching in September 1994. She has spent the 30 years since teaching art in Herkimer Central School District.
For the first dozen years, she traveled between the two school buildings – teaching middle school art and a few high school art electives at the high school building in the morning and teaching art at the elementary building in the afternoon. After those years, she has taught strictly elementary art.
“Art education is a great way to reach so many students,” WheelerStapf said. “I have a policy in my room: ‘There are no mistakes in art.’ For any line, shape or color you did not mean to put down, we will turn it into something else and create a new plan. All art is beautiful. I love teaching tips and tricks in drawing and coloring and seeing where the students take it. The art room is a place where everyone is successful in each and everyone’s own personal way.”
WheelerStapf’s history of teaching art in the district, working on schoolwide initiatives and collaborating with other teachers led to Herkimer Elementary Principal Renee Vogt nominating her for a Genesis Group Outstanding Educator award this year.
At the 18th annual Celebration of Education event presented by the Genesis Group and First Source Federal Credit Union on Nov. 21 at Hart’s Hill Inn in Whitesboro, WheelerStapf won one of the Outstanding Educator awards.
“I feel incredibly honored and surprised and just so happy,” WheelerStapf said.
In fact, she was initially so surprised that when she received an email from the Genesis Group announcing that she won the award, she sent a message to Vogt and Assistant Elementary Principal Cristi Paragi asking if it was real.
Of course, it was real. In Vogt’s nomination letter, she pointed out that WheelerStapf is a member of the New York State Art Teachers Association and described her as “a lifelong learner.”
“She has a passion for art and strives to instill that love in her students,” Vogt said. “Her message of ‘there are no mistakes in art’ allows for student creativity and individual success. Her reference to a ‘100-year-old classroom’ exemplifies the respect and positive relationships she has with each student. Students flourish as artists and feel accomplished due to her instructional approach.”
The “100-year-old classroom” idea comes from a class photo from WheelerStapf’s grandmother’s sister’s class in about 1910. WheelerStapf’s mother, Mimi Wheeler, who was an art teacher with West Canada Valley Central School District for 30 years, started using the photo in her classroom to get the class ready to start on a positive note. She would say, “Everyone show me ‘100-year-old classroom,’” and students would race to sit just like the students in the photo.
“I’ve adopted the system, and it is a fun way to start the class,” WheelerStapf said.
In the nomination letter, Vogt also praised WheelerStapf’s role in the school beyond the art classroom – including pioneering several schoolwide projects.
“She is always willing to lend a hand in any school activity and participates in all school events,” Vogt said. “She is not only an outstanding educator but a trustworthy colleague and friend. There is no one more deserving of this educational recognition than Heather WheelerStapf.”
Recently, teachers of all the special area classes – art, library, music and physical education – worked together to help organize a schoolwide Thanksgiving parade event including students creating their own balloons in art class to carry or wear in the parade.
“The special area team had so much fun working together for the Thanksgiving parade,” WheelerStapf said.
One of the other schoolwide projects WheelerStapf was involved with was when she took the lead on a dot project that was all about if everyone started with just a dot, let’s see all the different directions students create artwork from that dot. Another one was bringing to Herkimer the Pinwheels for Peace art installation project, which was started in 2005 by two Florida teachers as a way for their students to express their feelings about what’s going on in the world and in their lives to promote peace. “I love doing schoolwide projects where the whole school works on a similar project,” WheelerStapf said. “When students see teachers all working together on things, I feel, it strengthens the sense of community. We all need to work together, not only in school, but in life.”
Herkimer Elementary School art teacher Heather WheelerStapf holds her Outstanding Educator award at the 18th annual Celebration of Education presented by the Genesis Group and First Source Federal Credit Union on Nov. 21 at Hart’s Hill Inn in Whitesboro.