Stacey Bess | |
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| Born | 16 October 1963 Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
| Education | University of Utah (BA) |
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Stacey Bess (born October 16, 1963 in Salt Lake City, Utah) is an American author and educator. She wrote the memoir Nobody Don't Love Nobody, which was made into a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie in 2011 called Beyond the Blackboard.
Bess was born on October 16, 1963 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her mother, Susan was a secretary for a juvenile detention center in Salt Lake City. [1] Her step-father, Roger Coon, was a fundraiser. [1]
Bess attended the University of Utah, graduating with a B.A. in elementary education in 1987. [2] [1]
Bess' first teaching job, the only assignment she could find, was teaching math and reading at a school for children in a homeless shelter in Salt Lake City, Utah. [2] She was told she would teach grades K–6, but she instead had to teach grades K–12. [3] The school was know as "The School With No Name". [4]
She wrote the memoir Nobody Don’t Love Nobody: Lessons on Love From the School With No Name. in 1994, about her experiences teaching homeless children at the homeless shelter. [5] [1] In 2011, the book made into a Hallmark Hall of Fame called Beyond the Blackboard. [6] After her book was published, she continued to teach at the homeless shelter part time. [4]
Bess now works as a public speaker, advocating for the educational rights of impoverished children. [2] She also wrote Planting More Than Pansies: A Fable about Love in 2003. [7]
Her service has been recognized with a number of awards, including the National Jefferson Award for Greatest Public Service by Someone 35 Years or Younger in 1995. [8] She received the Delta Kappa Gamma Educator's Award in 1995 and the Rescuer of Humanity from Project Love in 1996. [9] [10]
Bess married Greg Bess, a commercial real estate appraiser in 1980 when she was sixteen and he was seventeen. [1] [4] The couple then went on to finish high. [4] They have six children. [2] She has had thyroid cancer twice, surviving her first round when she was thirty. [6] [1] [4]