Belinda Mach, a French teacher at Carrollton High School for 19 years, was selected as the 2018 Teacher of the Year by a panel of judges who scored nominations from each of the 22 school districts served by the Stark County Educational Service Center. Most rewarding moment: "I realized that I had changed someone’s life forever. As an educator, it doesn’t get any more rewarding than that."
CARROLLTON The first lesson Belinda Mach teaches her beginning French students at Carrollton High School is more than 220 million people on five continents and about 40 countries speak French.
She also explains Montreal, Quebec — the second largest French-speaking city in the world after Paris — sits 625 miles from Carrollton, which is about the same distance as Myrtle Beach.
“When students realize that someday they could realistically drive to a place where fluent French is spoken, it changes everything,” Mach said. “Suddenly, food vocabulary, greetings and sentence structure become significant. They want to translate French menus and practice their pronunciation. They want to compare the value of the Canadian dollar to the U.S. dollar. They want to learn about Montreal’s Olympic Village and underground city.”
Mach, a French teacher at Carrollton High School for 19 years, is the 2018 Teacher of the Year. She was selected by a panel of judges who scored nominations from each of the 22 school districts served by the Stark County Educational Service Center.
Here are five things to know about Mach:
1. She didn’t obtain her driver’s license until she was 30 years old. The Carrollton resident only decided to get it because she wanted to return to school to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a teacher. Mach had put the dream on hold following the death of her mother during her junior year in high school, and then the birth of her three sons. Mach graduated summa cum laude from Walsh University in 1994 with a double major in French and elementary education.
She taught French at Canton Country Day for three years before starting at Carrollton High School in 1999. “My hope is that I am an example to my children, my grandchildren and my students that it is never too late to pursue a dream and that hard work and perseverance really do pay off,” said Mach, who became interested in French as a gifted student in the Canton City School District.
2. Every year, she and her roughly 110 French students from freshmen to seniors transform Carrollton’s gym into a French Soirée that showcases French food and culture. This year’s Soirée, which will be held on May 12 and is expected to attract more than 400 people, will highlight nine French provinces.
Each of Mach’s French classes has picked at least one province and has created a shop to operate at the Soiree. For example, one class has chosen to present an ice cream sundae bar because the Normany region is famous for its dairy, while the group that chose the Rhone-Alpes plan to serve gratin dauphinois (fancy potatoes with cheese) to honor the region known as the culinary capital of the world. To stock and operate their shops, students earned money through a sales project in January.
Each group also has created a publicity poster to hang in area storefronts as well as a brochure with a designed cover, list of facts about the region and a description of what their shop offers and why.
Mach said the project is successful because it takes French out of the classroom and into the community and teaches students time management, teamwork, responsibility and self-evaluation while giving each student the ability to contribute in an area that interests them.
3. Her most rewarding moment as a teacher came in February when one of her former students returned to the high school to talk to students. Brynne had been one of five girls Mach took to France in 2011. They had visited 25 cities in 15 days and Brynne said the trip changed her life.
After graduating from the University of Mount Union with a double major in French and biology, Brynne moved to France where she teaches English in a French high school and where she plans attain her master’s degree in biology.
“As my students listened intently to her story and enthusiastically asked her questions, I realized that the young girl from Dellroy that I had once inspired was now inspiring others,” Mach said. “… At that moment, I realized that I had changed someone’s life forever. As an educator, it doesn’t get any more rewarding than that.”
4. While she has arranged and chaperoned five trips to France and three trips to Quebec, Mach also introduces her advanced students to French culture during an annual field trip to Cleveland. The visit includes a stop at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where they can view a wall-sized painting of Monet’s “Waterlilies.” She also has taken students to see “Les Misérables,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” and “The Phantom of the Opera,” where they learn about iconic French novels through music and, for many of them, take in their first live theater experience.
5. Mach also teaches her students to be community-minded citizens. She leads by example. Mach advises the Caring Helping Sharing Club where a group of students volunteer to stay after school on Thursdays to pack roughly 270 “Blessings in a Backpack” for students throughout the Carrollton school district who aren’t sure whether they will have enough food to eat over the weekend. The C.H.S. Club also raises money to buy Christmas gifts for roughly 20 underprivileged children and delivers treats during Halloween to the more than 50 adults with developmental disabilities at Saint John’s Villa.
She also is a member of the district’s CARE Team, which provides wraparound services to needy families and students, and is an advisor to People Leading America’s Youth, which is the Carrollton chapter of Youth to Youth that promotes awareness about drugs, alcohol, tobacco and mental health issues.
Outside of school, Mach has served as the outreach committee chair for the past 14 years at the Church of Christ, as well as served as the coordinator for the Drop-Off Center for Carroll County’s “Operation Christmas Child” for the last six years. She also volunteers for the Carroll County Development Committee for Community Hospice since 2010 where she served as the co-chair of “Treasures of Time,” an event that raises money for hospice patients.
Reach Kelli at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com.
On Twitter: @kweirREP