Marquis Who's Who Millennium Magazine

395 A Marquis Who's Who Magazine W hen Janet Schafbuch was a child, her parents encouraged her to achieve in school so that she would be able to someday complete a college education and become a teacher. Mrs. Velicer obtained a Bachelor of Science in home economics education in 1963 and a Master of Science in food science and human nutrition in 1966, both from Iowa State University. At ISU she was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi, Omicron Nu, Iota Sigma Pi and Kappa Delta. Mrs. Velicer early years of teaching chemistry and home economics were in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia high schools. After her husband, Leland Velicer, completed his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, they relocated to East Lansing, Mich. While their three young sons were preschoolers, Mrs. Velicer completed her Elementary Education Certification at Michigan State University. She applied her teaching efforts full-time to children in the intermediate grades, first teaching multiage classrooms in the Waverly Community Schools before turning to self-contained third, fourth and fifth grade classrooms in the Okemos Public Schools from 1976 to 2001. Serving on school committees provided important cooperative decision-making experiences for Mrs. Velicer. Throughout her career, she served on numerous curricula, policy, governance and advisory committees at all levels. At the state level, she received the Classrooms of Tomorrow Teacher Award from the Michigan Department of Education. She had the opportunity to study the German education system in-depth as a delegate for the Michigan Education Exchange Program in 1999. During several summers Mrs. Velicer helped chaperone high school foreign- language students on their exchange trips to Germany, Mexico, Costa Rica and Spain. Now retired, Mrs. Velicer-Geiger is a member of the National Education RetiredTeachers Association, the Michigan Education Retired Teachers Association, the Michigan Association of Retired School Personnel, Iowa State University Alumni Association, Michigan State University Alumni Association and Sierra Club. She has seven grandchildren. Her first husband, Leland Velicer, passed away in 2000. She married James Geiger in 2007. They have done extensive traveling. Janet Schafbuch Velicer-Geiger Elementary School Educator (Retired) Overland Park, KS