Schaumburg teacher to model at Macy's show

Jeri Heap, a teacher at Blackwell Elementary School in Schaumburg, is one of six Chicago area teachers chosen to kick off fall fashion for Macy's and Jones New York in a show at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, at Macy's Orland Square in Orland Park.

Jones New York says it will turn role models into supermodels in honor of educators and the teaching profession. After the show, a Jones New York style expert will help attendees master their own style using key pieces from the collection. The show wraps up Shop For Education Week, Oct. 16-23, where 10 percent of the selling price (up to a maximum of $300,000) of apparel sold from Jones New York lines will be donated to Jones New York In The Classroom, a nonprofit organization supporting teachers and children's education.

In applying to be in the show, Heap, who attended Northern Illinois University in DeKalb and taught full time for 34 years, said on her questionnaire she always wanted to be a teacher. “In my younger years, I would set up all my stuffed animals and teach them. They were my most well behaved studentsto this day! Her favorite TV show is “Glee because “it has lots of Broadway musical numbers and I am a theater fanatic.

Something people don't know about her is that “I have a hidden talent in that I can fit my entire fist in my mouthIt is not pretty. A healthier habit is running, she wrote; she's competed in 11 half-marathons and close to 100 5Ks, and she always finishes, though sometimes not without a trip to the medical tent.

Among memorable teaching moments, she recalls when she taught her 5th graders how to needlepoint and knit, and for holidays, they would stitch a gift for the family. “Sitting around the room with 27 kids stitching, helping and singing to the CD was the most heart warming experience I had in the classroom, wrote Heap, who said her husband Dave will be cheering her on at the fashion show.