Christian Teacher of the Year: Big-picture thinking, prayerful meditation, help Staci Hadel forge snug bond with students, families

Imagine asking a 7-year-old to engage in prayerful meditation. A little dicey, right?

Now try it with a couple dozen of them at once.

Well, 2nd grade teacher Staci Hadel of St. Ann Catholic School in Prairie Village, Kansas, not only manages it but excels at it.

That, and the extraordinary spiritual bond she forges with her students and their families, are just two reasons why Staci Hadel is one of just 12 instructors across the country named 2024 Christian Teacher of the Year by the Herzog Foundation, publisher of The Lion.

“Meditative reflection” is one big way Hadel sends a message to her students that “we encounter God in everything we do in the classroom” – spread out over a 2nd grader’s hearty buffet of reading, writing, math, religion, social studies and science. 

“Each child finds a quiet corner, allowing the quiet space to envelop them. For ten minutes, we simply sit together in prayer,” she explains in an essay for her award. 

“After their quiet reflection, students are invited to share any thoughts, questions, or insights God might have placed upon their hearts. This sharing circle fosters a sense of community and allows each child to feel valued and heard. … 

“It allows children the sacred and often-neglected opportunity to practice stillness, to simply ‘be still and know that He is God.’” 

How many places today are 7- and 8-year-olds invited to be still – and actually relish it? 

“Children, bombarded with constant stimulation and distractions,” she figures, “desperately need to learn the art of stillness, to ‘be still’ as the Scripture often encourages.” 

Such a spiritual overlay to the school day not only works masterfully in Hadel’s classroom, but it shows the impact Christian education could have on America – where all varieties of secular social ills slip through public school doors – or into the curriculum – yet God isn’t allowed to. 

In fact, Hadel argues Christian education is “vital” to America’s future. 

“I really feel that it’s getting back to the basics. I think that it’s impossible for teachers to teach the values that we teach in our classroom – compassion, kindness, resilience – without teaching the source from which those values spring, which is our Lord and Savior.” 

That big-picture view, that this life isn’t the end-all of existence – a view that, again, isn’t welcome in public schools – is what helps Hadel form a tangible bond with students and families. 

It’s why she was able to reach one student who’d been diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD and was lost in a murky stream of public schools before reaching her at St. Ann. 

That fact wasn’t lost on the boy’s father – who thanked Hadel profusely a year later. 

“His father said to me – it makes me emotional thinking about it – he said we all have that one teacher that believed in us – and he said, ‘I know that you were that for my son.’ And he said, ‘You were the first person that made my family and my child believe that everything will be OK.’ 

“I get chills when I think about it, because there’s days that go by that you think, ‘What am I doing?’ You know? There’s a lot of chaos with 23 seven-year-olds in a room, and it’s moments like that that make it all worth it.” 

Hadel’s peers across the country might like to know exactly how she made a family feel that way. 

“I think parents today get so focused on what society is telling them is important,” she says, explaining that that’s a time “you can take a step back and say, you know your child is going to be OK in the end – we are teaching the whole person; we are raising him together. 

“We are not focused on just his reading level, just these math scores. We are looking at the whole picture. Is he developed as a whole? And are we all doing our part to make sure that he, in the end, is just being what God designed for him?” 

Like her other Christian Teacher of the Year honorees, and those of the past few years, Hadel seems to have the light of God in her face. Others might also like to know where that comes from. 

“I think it’s through hardship. I feel like you can’t get by day to day of our own volition.  

“I was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 7. My husband has health complications. And my husband has taught me so much about living each day to the fullest, and how God intended us to live our lives, to live our lives childlike. 

“I’m supposed to live my life like a 7-year-old in my classroom with no worry. And when you can give those hardships over to the Lord for Him to carry, your life completely changes. 

“I think in society today, people are searching for something to fill that hole, and it’s never going to be filled unless you have accepted Christ as your savior.” 

Can you teach your academic subject properly in public schools when you’re not allowed to discuss the Creator? 

“Absolutely not,” Hadel says. “God’s fingerprints are on everything that we look at – from science to mathematics to social studies, the battle of good versus evil. His fingerprints are on everything. And unless a student can see that, then it’s a complete misunderstanding and really a failure to the child – a disservice to them.” 

What would Hadel say to inspire her fellow Christian teachers? 

One thing in particular: Psalm 81:10. It’s in her head and on her tongue every day. 

“There are days that I walk into my classroom and I don’t know how I’m going to accomplish what the day has in front of me, I don’t know how I’m going to teach a certain religion lesson, I don’t know how I’m going to get through the next two hours.  

“But I always rely on that psalm. ‘Open your mouth and I will fill it.’ And that’s in every aspect of life. God has always provided for me. He has always taken care of me. He has always led me when I’ve gone astray. 

“Just every morning I start my morning with that psalm. I think of it multiple times throughout the day. ‘Open your mouth and I will fill it.’ And when you have that trust in God, He will provide, and He will take care of you.” 

The Christian Teacher of the Year honor is part of the Herzog Foundation’s Excellence in Christian Education award series. Each of the 12 winners will attend a special professional development and recognition event in Washington, D.C.