{"id":502567,"date":"2026-10-20T20:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T20:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/502567\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T20:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T20:22:08","slug":"decades-after-csulb-retired-teachers-are-planting-seeds-for-tomorrows-educators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/502567\/","title":{"rendered":"Decades after CSULB, retired teachers are planting seeds for tomorrow\u2019s educators"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barbara Ellis \u201964, \u201965 spent 36 years teaching high school and junior high English in the Long Beach Unified School District. She\u2019s retired now, but that doesn\u2019t mean she\u2019s done.<\/p>\n

Ellis serves as scholarship chair for Division 3 of the California Retired Teachers Association (CalRTA). She\u2019s one of dozens of Cal State Long Beach alumni who are members \u2014 or have been members \u2014 of Division 3, which includes Long Beach, Lakewood, Bellflower and Seal Beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be a part of helping young people, who will make wonderful teachers in the classroom,\u201d said Ellis, whose name, along with her late husband Robert Ellis \u201858, are on CSULB\u2019s College of Education<\/a> building 1, which was renamed in 2015 in honor of the Ellis\u2019 generous gifts to the college, mostly for scholarships. \u201cI want to be a part of making their dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 1996, CalRTA\u2019s Long Beach division has contributed more than $549,000 in scholarships for Beach students who aim to go into teaching. Scholarships have also gone to Long Beach City College and Cerritos College students who aspire to transfer to CSULB and eventually become educators.<\/p>\n

The scholarships reflect the achievements of Beach alumni in their chosen fields, who then give back to their community of teachers and aspiring teachers.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s cohort of 26 scholarship recipients includes 17 education<\/a> students at CSULB, while nine are community college students who have expressed interest in transferring to The Beach.<\/p>\n

Not just for money<\/p>\n

Experienced teachers know probably better than anyone that teaching at the K-12 level isn\u2019t always the most lucrative profession, and when you are student teaching, you might not get paid at all.<\/p>\n

But they also know that it\u2019s an invaluable vocation, it carries its own rewards and it\u2019s worth keeping the tradition and profession alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost teachers do it not for the pay, but for doing something they think is important for the generation they\u2019re working with,\u201d said Robert Hedges \u201870, who spent 35 years in the Long Beach Unified School District as a teacher and an elementary school principal. He retired in 2006 and now serves as treasurer for the Long Beach division of CalRTA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe same is true for our members throughout,\u201d Hedges said. \u201cThere\u2019s a commitment to helping people and helping the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

From left: Charlotte Hamilton, Barbara Ellis ’64, ’65 and Raven Moon sit on a bench outside the College of Education.<\/p>\n

Every year on the third Friday of September, CalRTA\u2019s Long Beach chapter hosts a scholarship luncheon, where new scholarship recipients are introduced to the general membership. The luncheon is the only formal opportunity for CalRTA members to meet the new scholars. But it\u2019s also a chance for retired teachers to tell their stories, bond with and give advice to the next generation of teachers.<\/p>\n

Multiple CalRTA scholarship recipient Charlotte Hamilton has had a relationship with the nonprofit organization since her first semester at LBCC, where she received associate\u2019s degrees in history and anthropology. She has since transferred to Cal State Long Beach, and anticipates obtaining her bachelor\u2019s degree in history in December, with a minor in anthropology. She aims to get her teaching credential next year.<\/p>\n

She says the members of CalRTA are the \u201cbest role models you can have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve put their support in me as a student, and it has been so helpful,\u201d she said. \u201cI think that\u2019s a testament to them being educators \u2014 they\u2019re so experienced, they know the academic journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scholarship recipient Raven Moon is working toward obtaining her teaching credential, and hopes to become a special ed teacher. She\u2019s interning at Webster Elementary in Long Beach while completing the remainder of her coursework at CSULB.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s especially an honor to receive (the scholarship) from teachers, because they know how hard this job is, and to feel recognized by them is very special. They know how dedicated you have to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellis said CSULB\u2019s College of Education is doing an outstanding job preparing the next generation of educators.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the preparation they\u2019re receiving is just perfect for the times we\u2019re living in,\u201d she said. \u201cThey know the real world.\u201d<\/p>\n

CalRTA scholarship winners for 2026-27 gather outside St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in Long Beach during the annual Division 3 scholarship luncheon. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barbara Ellis \u201964, \u201965 spent 36 years teaching high school and junior high English in the Long Beach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[1818,1820,7,1815,1821,1822,1819,131,133,132,1817,1816],"class_list":["post-502567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-49ers","tag-cal-state","tag-california","tag-college","tag-csu","tag-csulb","tag-dirtbags","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-long-beach-state","tag-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}