Glen Este High School Teacher Honored by UC for Making Spanish Come Alive in Song

A box of toys, a catchy song, a charismatic quality, a genuine love for teaching and respect for his students – those are just some of the qualities that make Señor Neil Frank, who teaches Spanish at Glen Este High School, an award-winner, according to UC senior Becky Bradford.

Frank, who has taught for 28 years, is one of four teachers from around the Tristate to be honored by the University of Cincinnati when he receives the Cincinnati USA Outstanding Educator Award at UC’s December Commencement Ceremony.

The ceremony takes place at 1:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 8, in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center.

Frank will be presented with a $1,000 UC scholarship to be awarded to a high-school senior of his choosing who plans to attend UC in the 2008-2009 academic year.

The educators were nominated by soon-to-graduate UC students who wanted to recognize a K-12 educator who had a lasting impression on their pursuit of a college degree. The recipients were selected from 27 nominations reviewed by a UC committee that included representation from the Office of the President, UC faculty, staff and students.

Frank was nominated by 21-year-old Becky Bradford of Eastgate, who graduates next spring with her degree in secondary education from the UC College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services. “Even at UC, if I was taking a Spanish test, I’d be singing his little songs to myself. Because of him, I too have come up with creative ideas to inspire my students,” she says.

“Creativity is very important, as well as a sense of humor,” says Frank.

“Señor Frank has a way of expressing his love for Spanish that can make anyone fall in love with the language,” adds Bradford. “He has a box full of toys that help him demonstrate each lesson, and a catchy song for students to learn challenging concepts.”

Bradford says the timing of the award was deeply meaningful as well. Last year, Frank had to take leave for nearly the entire school year after he was diagnosed with stage-four lymphoma.

“We weren’t sure what it was at first,” he says. “I just noticed I had a bum hip, and thought I had injured it while boating. Eventually, the orthopedist recommended an MRI and it turned out to be stage-four non-Hodgkins lymphoma.”

Frank says the treatments were aggressive, including chemotherapy and an autologous bone-marrow transplant. Because all of his immune system was wiped out by the treatment, exposure to his formally routine environment, including a classroom, could have turned deadly.

“All of us who knew him banded together in prayer. Here was this person who had been there for us through all four years of Spanish and he was forced to give up something he loved to fight this illness. It’s really a miracle that he’s back in the classroom and doing so well,” Bradford says.

“Being out so long and coming back, it was hard getting back into the swing of things at first,” says Frank. “There are significant demands on a teacher during the course of a school day.”

Frank adds that because of those demands, a talented teacher must know the subject material “inside-out, upside down and backwards. There are so many things required for teaching that the field of expertise has to be second-nature, so that we can deal with all the other demands.”

Bradford, who aspires to be a high-school English teacher, agrees. “A teacher who really knows the content and really has a passion for the content can relay that to the students.

“We are constantly exploring that challenge in our classrooms at UC – what makes a good teacher a great teacher – and my education faculty really emphasize that,” says Bradford.

Frank says he is looking forward to attending the ceremony with his wife, Dr. Marlene Schmidt, a child psychiatrist and graduate of the UC College of Medicine. “It’s such an honor to receive this award. I’m very humbled. I just go to school and do the best I can, and that’s what I want to do. I know I’m doing the job that I was put on this earth to do.”

This December marks the third year that UC has presented the Cincinnati USA Outstanding Educator Awards to recognize the lifelong inspiration of K-12 educators. Preceding the ceremony, Frank and Bradford will celebrate Frank’s UC honor when they join UC President Nancy L. Zimpher at a special brunch that will take place at 11:15 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 8, in the Faculty Club Banquet Room in Room 850 of the Richard E. Lindner Center.

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