“How many of you know how to use a pencil?” asked Mary
Baldwin, principal of St. Andrew the Apostle School in
Clifton at an all-school assembly in the parish hall May 20.
Hands of children from kindergarten through eighth grade shot
up in the air – stretching, wiggling, waving. After a few
moments, the students dropped their hands in anticipation of
Baldwin’s next words: “How many of you know how to write in
cursive?”
The first couple of rows, where the youngest students sat,
kept their hands in their lap.
The principal went on to explain that while knowing one’s way
around a computer or tablet matters, familiarity with
technology does not replace knowing how to properly form
letters.
“It’s important to train your mind to work with your hand and
make something beautiful,” Baldwin told the children.
Two St. Andrew the Apostle students have demonstrated
excellence at this very skill. Ohio-based language arts
publisher Zaner-Bloser chose eighth-grader Stephanie Geigel
as the grand prize national champion in her grade and
fifth-grader Jillian Harar as the Virginia state champion in
her grade for a recent competition that attracted 300,000
entries from across the United States.
Baldwin called the girls up to the front of the room to
present them with their medallions. Neither student knew of
the recognition until that assembly. Both were beaming.
Geigel was teary from happiness.
“I’m so grateful to have such wonderful teachers who always
get me to strive to do better,” said Geigel after the
assembly. “I owe it to them.”
“When (Baldwin) called me up, at first I didn’t know what to
do,” said Harar. “But my friends told me to go up there, so I
went up.”
The girls’ parents were notified of their daughters’
accomplishment about a month ago, when the principal received
the news from Zaner-Bloser. Baldwin asked the parents to keep
it a surprise and come to the school assembly for the big
reveal.
Geigel thanked her parents and aunt for their praise and
gifts of calligraphy books and pens. Harar credits her mother
and grandmother, both schoolteachers, for her neat
handwriting. She said that her father and grandfather have
encouraged her to continue practicing.
Both girls pointed to teacher Marilynn Zook as a great
inspiration. Zook is in charge of teaching St. Andrew
students cursive when they reach third grade.
Geigel and Harar’s prize package included money for the
students and the school, as well as engraved awards for their
teachers. Geigel also earned a trophy, a handcrafted
certificate from Zaner-Bloser’s master penman, Michael Sull,
and a trip for one St. Andrew teacher to attend the
International Literacy Association’s annual conference in St.
Louis, Mo. this July.
All diocesan schools use Zaner-Bloser books to learn
penmanship. St. Andrew the Apostle was the only school in the
Arlington Diocese to have students place in the handwriting
competition.
According to a study cited in Zaner-Bloser’s book,
Handwriting Research: Impact on the Brain and Literacy
Development, an estimated 25 to 33 percent of students are
not fully competent in penmanship, which affects their
reading, writing, language and critical thinking skills.
“We thank God and definitely the school. We are so blessed
for the teachers’ sacrifice, help and motivation,” said
Geigel’s mother, Mary Pierri-Geigel, who, with her husband
Wilfredo Geigel, is a parishioner of St. Andrew the Apostle
Church.
“Stephanie has always taken such pride in making her papers
look neat,” said Zook. “She is always a star among her peers.
She is a wonderful girl and I am very proud.”
Marselle Myers, Geigel’s English teacher, said Stephanie is
not only hard-working but “humble” and “well-liked” by her
classmates. When Myers recently asked students to memorize a
soliloquy from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” Geigel made an
obscure selection and learned all 60 lines word for word,
perfectly.
“She also always turns in more than one draft,” said Myers.
“Recently, for a persuasive essay assignment, Stephanie
turned in four drafts. I told her that her first draft was
fine and that she had an A, but she just enjoys improving on
things. By eighth grade, there is nothing I can do to improve
handwriting,” said Myers. “Hers was already perfect.”
Meanwhile, Harar’s mother, Bethany Harar, describes her as an
enthusiastic writer who spends her free time writing poetry
and fiction.
“She asked us to teach her cursive before they started
teaching it in school,” said Harar. “And she learned to read
early. She has always loved reading and writing.”
Geigel will start at Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High
School in Dumfries this fall, while Harar will continue at
St. Andrew the Apostle.
Stoddard can be reached at [email protected].
