cindy schafer

After 33 Years, Corpus Christi's Schafer Has Taught 1,000 Students

By Alfonso Aguilar
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the Issue of 11/16/06)

Cynthia L. Schafer is the senior teacher at Corpus Christi School in Falls Church and is also director for the school’s extended day program.
She began teaching at the school in 1973, when it was called St. Anthony School.
“I wanted to be a teacher my entire life, forever,” said Schafer. “The school has been my second home and all the children who are or have been in my classroom, maybe 1,000, they are all like my children.”
Schafer, who teaches first grade, was born in Germany. As the daughter of an U.S Army officer, she traveled around the world and studied in Germany, France and Korea, and obtained a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from the University of Maryland in College Park.
Prior to teaching at the school, she worked for an educational consulting firm.
“My life is to be with children. There is nothing better than seeing them laughing, learning,” she said.
“I feel very happy now to see the sons and daughters of those children that were my original students. I feel happy to see that many, now adults, come to visit me,” she said.
She also said that as a teacher, “I feel very proud when a student tells me he or she wants to be a teacher like me.”
Schafer was appointed a member of the committee for the newly established Distinguished Teachers of the Year, an award co-sponsored by the Catholic Business Network of Northern Virginia and the Arlington Diocese School Board.
These awards will honor dedicated teachers from pre-k to 12th grade in Catholic schools in the diocese “whose accomplishments and talent have made an extraordinary impact on students, colleagues and the school community,” according to the rules for nomination.
The future awardees must have consistently demonstrated exemplary teaching, a Christian and caring attitude and dedication for their school communities.
“There are many regional or national awards, but these new ones were established as local recognition of our teachers,” said Schafer.
Four teachers will receive these awards in a ceremony scheduled for next spring.
Schafer has been nominated several times to receive the National Catholic Education Association’s Award. She said she is not even thinking that some day she may receive it. “I just want to be a teacher,” she said. “It’s about being with kids. You are a teacher because you love it. Each day is a new day in the school.”