Sunnydale teacher earns honor for extra effort

The only thing that would have made Consuelo Cabral happier was two tickets to a Cubs playoff game.

With an initially perplexed and then stunned look on her face, the Sunnydale Elementary School teacher became one of 1,200 instructors across the country who were honored by officials from OfficeMax this month as part of the company's A Day Made Better Program that recognizes teachers spend a lot of their own money to educate their students each year.

Sunnydale Principal Denise Lockwald nominated Cabral, who has taught 21 years at the Streamwood school for the award.

"She (Cabral) goes above and beyond to stay up to date with the latest research and best practices," Lockwald said. "The students in her classroom are highly engaged in every lesson. Not only does she raise the bar for her students, but expects a lot from their families as well."

OfficeMax' A Day Made Better Program was instituted to pay homage to the unsung teachers across the United States, many of whom spend a lot of their own money each year to make sure their students have all of the supplies they need. Cabral was the recipient of more than $1,000 in classroom supplies, while the school also received a $10,000 donation from the company. OfficeMax also supplied the Streamwood school with a startup kit that encourages community members to adopt a classroom through the A Day Made Better program to ensure that students have everything they need to learn.

As part of the day's festivities, OfficeMax sent Rick Klinetobe, production manager of the company's Itasca location, along with co-workers Jeanne Steele and Christina Burke, to present the award and supplies to Cabral. With Cabral's fifth-grade bilingual gifted class and her adult daughter, Estafanie Teran-Cabral, looking on, Klinetobe presented the special items, which included a digital camera, labeler, electronic pencil sharpener, pencils, markers, and similar items.

Klinetobe used a sense of humor while presenting the items to Cabral.

"This chair doesn't look comfortable at all," he said while wheeling out a new chair for Cabral's classroom desk.

Cabral was also quick with humor, although she kept professing shock at receiving the award.

"This is better than receiving Teacher of the Year," she said. "With Teacher of the Year, all you get is a piece of paper."

Amid all the humor and the acknowledgment that Cabral's students were missing a math lesson, a serious message came through clearly.

"The only thing that we at OfficeMax ask for you to do as students is to listen to your teacher this year and to listen to your teacher next year and the year after that because she's an important person in your life," Klinetobe said.