Teacher’s Lofty Goals for Students Propel Her to National Hall of Fame

Not many people would do what Christine Lungren Maddalone does for a living.

As a teacher in one of Long Beach’s roughest neighborhoods, Maddalone has worked in some difficult situations. Few of her students speak English. Nearly all are from Southeast Asia or Mexico. Most have scored below the 40th percentile on standardized tests.

Many of her students dread vacations because they live in cramped apartments in neighborhoods filled with drugs, abuse and gangs, she said. And yet Maddalone sees hope in these children.

Her vision was one of the reasons she was the first California teacher to be inducted last summer into the National Teachers Hall of Fame on the campus of Emporia State University in Kansas. Maddalone was one of five nationwide to receive one of teaching’s highest honors.

An elementary schoolteacher for more than two decades, Maddalone “spends most of her waking hours thinking: ‘How can I do a better job helping kids?’ She’s a real treasure,” said Long Beach Unified School District Supt. Carl A. Cohn. “She’s an outstanding teacher who constantly puts kids first.”

Maddalone credits her success as a teacher to her upbringing in a family with seven children--one of whom is state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren. “My parents taught us to give back to the community, not just to take a job,” she said. “We were taught you can’t be a successful adult until you can say to yourself on a daily basis: ‘I feel good about what I’m doing and I’m making a difference.’ ”

Officials at the National Teachers Hall of Fame recognized Maddalone for several accomplishments, including initiating an after-school self-esteem program for Long Beach students whose lives had been disrupted by the 1992 riots. She also produced a video featuring her students and their accomplishments and screened it for lawmakers in Sacramento.

Over the years, Maddalone has won myriad honors, including Long Beach Teacher of the Year and a meeting with President Clinton at the White House. More important than the accolades, though, are the children, she said.

“I feel like I’ve made a difference in every child’s life. It may be just for a moment, but if it makes a difference to them, if they’re then able to make a positive change, then I’ve been a success,” she said.

Helping children outside the classroom is just as important to her as helping them with school work, she said. When a Spanish-speaking first-grader arrived at school with jaundice, Maddalone obtained permission to help him receive proper medical attention. She waited six hours at a local hospital with the family, ushering his parents through a maze of paperwork, rude employees and busy doctors, she said.

Because of a rare disorder, the boy lost all his hair and became the target of jeers and teasing on the playground. Maddalone went to every classroom at the school and talked to the students.

“I explained to them that we need to be more understanding, we need to help him be as happy as he can. I did what I could. I can’t do everything. But I can help in small ways.”

After 23 years in the classroom, Maddalone has left teaching and accepted a job in administration. In two years, she hopes to become a principal.

That way, she said, “I can make a difference to even more kids. I may not be able to change their entire circumstances, but for them to know for a given amount of time that they are accepted for who they are and what they are, and they feel secure, they are going to have a purpose, to try to stay in school. They don’t have to be doctors, lawyers or teachers to be successful. Being successful is knowing they have a future.”

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Downey resident Edward J. Susank was elected chairman of the board of directors of the DCH Foundation Hospitals, which includes Downey Community Hospital and Rio Hondo Hospital. Susank has been a member of the hospital’s board of directors since 1983.

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Robin Tole has been appointed head of the steering committee for the Long Beach community cultural plan. The plan, initiated by the Public Corporation for the Arts, a nonprofit arts organization, will provide a five-year blueprint for the arts and will outline ways to build partnerships between businesses and local arts organizations.

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Three Long Beach City College art students were honored for works entered in competition. Long Beach residents Rudolph Rivademar and Joann Yates won awards for entries in the California Community Colleges Invitational Exhibition. Rivademar’s watercolor painting entitled “Floral Landscape” earned him best-of-show honors. Yates won an honorable mention for her print, “Emotion as Energy.” A sterling silver bracelet created by Long Beach resident Susan Steele was selected for a national touring display sponsored by the National Student Sterling Design Competition.

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Long Beach cardiologist Myrvin Ellestad has been named director emeritus of the Memorial Heart Institute. Ellestad helped found the institute and has been on staff at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center for more than 41 years.

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