HELENE DEBELAK

As Director of Curriculum at Birchwood School and co-founder with her husband, Helene Debelak has worked with teachers since 1984 to develop a curriculum in line with the school’s mission. Scouring historical methods and current research for keys to the interplay between academic challenge and character development is her enduring vocation. In her early years of teaching she explored the integration of special programs -such as National History Day and a yearly “Poetry Show”-  with subject areas as motivation for students to set high goals according to an authentic standard of excellence. Mrs. Debelak has four married children, three of whom are Birchwood alumni.  She loves reading to her ten grandchildren, and more are on the way.

Mrs. Debelak has a B.S. in Education from Valparaiso University and a M. Ed. from Cleveland State University with a focus on the education of gifted students. She studied abroad in Reutlingen, Germany and also taught for two years in Seoul, Korea. Her awards include Ohio History Day Teacher of the Year (1993) and The History Channel Teacher of the Year (2005). She has published in Social Studies and the Young Learner and is the author of Literature for Building Character.  With her husband, Charles, she has presented workshops on creative problem solving at conferences of the Ohio Association of Gifted Children and the Ohio Association of Independent Schools. Other activities include service on the state board of the Future Problem Solving program and on the National History Standards project, a joint venture with the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Center for History Education at UCLA.