Roberta Rempfer-Smith Honored by Cambridge Who's Who
Roberta Rempfer-Smith discusses her experience and accomplishments in education

SYCAMORE, IL, June 09, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Roberta Rempfer-Smith has been recognized by Cambridge Who's Who for demonstrating dedication, leadership and excellence in education.

Educated at Northern Illinois University with a bachelor of science in elementary education, Roberta Rempfer-Smith has led a varied and fruitful career spanning over 50 years. She began her teaching career in Wabash County, IL, in 1944. During an exclusive interview with Cambridge Who's Who, she shared, "I started in a one-room country school on a dirt road. This school was very similar to the one-room school I attended for the first eight years of my own education. I spent five years as a full-time classroom teacher there." Subsequent positions included 18 years as a public school substitute teacher for the DeKalb and Kankakee Counties, 11 years as acting pre-school child care director and eight years as a tutor at Northern Illinois University. She also worked at Kankakee Community College from 1980-1981, Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois as the director of their child care program.

During her tenure in DeKalb County, which lasted from 1947 to 1997, she dedicated 14 years to helping immigrants earn their general education diplomas. Many of these went on to pursue high school and even college education. She delivered speeches and slide presentations once per week to raise awareness to the needs of immigrants. In 1968, she founded the Children's Learning Center, a child care and pre-school center for immigrant children aged one month through five years. The Children's Learning Center also offered adult education for teacher-aides and served as the first migrant center in Illinois to offer adult education to staff members and the migrant parents of the Center's children. It was also the first year-round program to integrate a multicultural, bilingual curriculum. Now, 41 years later, the Children's Learning Center continues to thrive.

She left the center in 1975 to work for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services as a resource person for the state migrant program for two years. At Northern Illinois University, Ms. Rempfer-Smith worked as an academic tutor to athletes. The highlight of her career there, she noted, was meeting Carol Owens. Said Ms. Rempfer-Smith, "Ms. Owens broke every record in women's basketball at Northern Illinois University.

There was no Women's National Basketball Association at that time. Today, Ms. Owens is the head women's basketball coach at Northern Illinois University." She maintained that she will seek to volunteer her services to meet any tutoring needs Ms. Owens may have for her athletes moving forward. Ms. Rempfer-Smith also taught Kenny Battle, who later became a first draft pick in the NBA.

Demonstrating a true commitment to academia, Ms. Rempfer-Smith returned to further her own education at 69 years old. Specializing in behavioral disorders, she earned a certification in special education and went on to teach disabled students with behavioral problems until the age of 75. Prior to her retirement, she also volunteered in Christian education for 33 years and founded a Hispanic United Methodist Church in 1996, in Kankakee, IL.

Today, Ms. Rempfer-Smith continues to teach as the proud grandmother of Terry, Nathan, Tracy, Rachel and Miranda, and as great-grandmother to Caylan, Rachel, Megan, Sara Jayne, Zoe, Xander and Robyn. She credits her success to her mentor, Robert Earl Price, and to her professional philosophy, which reads from the Bible, Matthew 28, verses 19 and 20. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." She dedicates her church, community and educational involvement to her first husband, Vernon Rempfer.

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Ellen Campbell
Cambridge Who's Who
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