Stacey Bess | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1963-10-16)16 October 1963 (age 62) Salt Lake City,Utah, U.S. |
| Education | University of Utah (BA) |
| Occupations |
|
Stacey Bess (born October 16, 1963 inSalt Lake City, Utah) is an American author andeducator. She wrote the memoirNobody Don't Love Nobody, which was made into aHallmark Hall of Fame movie in 2011 calledBeyond the Blackboard.
Bess was born on October 16, 1963 inSalt Lake City, Utah. Her mother, Susan, was a secretary for a juvenile detention center in Salt Lake City.[1] Her step-father, Roger Coon, was a fundraiser.[1]
Bess attended theUniversity of Utah, graduating with a B.A. in elementary education in 1987.[2][1]
Bess' first teaching job, the only assignment she could find, was teaching math and reading at a school for children in a homeless shelter in Salt Lake City, Utah.[2] She was told she would teach grades K–6, but she instead had to teach grades K–12.[3] The school was known as "The School With No Name"[4]
She wrote the memoirNobody Don’t Love Nobody: Lessons on Love From the School With No Name in 1994, about her experiences teaching homeless children at the homeless shelter.[5][1] In 2011, the book was made into aHallmark Hall of Fame movie calledBeyond the Blackboard.[6] After her book was published, she continued to teach at the homeless shelter part time.[4]
Bess now works as apublic speaker, advocating for the educational rights ofimpoverished children.[2] She also wrotePlanting More Than Pansies: A Fable about Love in 2003.[7]
Her service has been recognized with a number of awards, including the NationalJefferson Award for Greatest Public Service by Someone 35 Years or Younger in 1995.[8] She received theDelta Kappa Gamma Educator's Award in 1995 and the Rescuer of Humanity from Project Love in 1996.[9][10]
Bess married Greg Bess, a commercial real estate appraiser in 1980 when she was sixteen and he was seventeen.[1][4] The couple then went on to finish high school.[4] They have six children.[2] She has had thyroid cancer twice, surviving her first round when she was thirty.[6][1][4]