Growing up, Parent Trap star Lisa Ann Walter learned about the highs and lows of being a teacher from her mom, who was a public school teacher in DC and in Maryland. Decades later, when she was cast in Abbott Elementary as the fierce second-grade teacher Melissa Schemmenti, saying “yes” to the role was almost a no-brainer. Now, as the actress takes a break in between seasons in solidarity with the SAG-AFTRA strike, she’s once again showing her appreciation for teachers in her partnership with BIC’s Back to School Supply Closet.
The collaboration, which officially kicks off at an in-person New York City event on August 3 (which also happens to be Walter’s birthday!), will give away over 15,000 pen and pencils and other school supplies to teachers in need. “I love the fact that I get to give gifts out to teachers who I respect and honor in memory of my mom,” Walter tells SheKnows. “It’s fantastic all the way around.”
Looking back, Walter remembers just how important her teachers, including her mom, have been to her life. “I think that we all remember the teachers that we loved from when we were little, and what they meant to us,” Walter says, adding that her daughter, Delia, has also started teaching at a higher grade level. “We need to all work a little harder to show appreciation.”
One of Walter’s most beloved teacher was Mrs. Freddye Davy, someone who Walter describes as “hard,” “exacting” and “incredibly elegant.” “She took education very seriously,” Walter says of Davy. “And she knew what it was to start out with a good education and what it meant in her life and so she did not mess around with it.” Among her core memories with Davy was her teaching Walter how to write a composition paper, something that she learned and continued using all the way through college. “She expected a lot from us and because she did we delivered a lot,” Walter remembers, adding that she reminded her of Sheryl Lee Ralph‘s character Barbara Howard in Abbott.
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As a mom of four, three sons and a daughter, Walter regained a whole new appreciation for teachers when it felt like her boys (her daughter was always a good student) were “pulling teeth” to get through school. “I always appreciated it when my boys would be in a class with a teacher that either had boys herself and so she knew what this job was, or she just really enjoyed them,” Walter says. “And when you have a teacher for your kids that enjoys them, that understand how they are, that’s different on how to deal with them.”
That was specially the case with her twin boys, who were often treated as equals despite being polar opposites. “The default oftentimes was to be like, ‘Well, they’re exactly the same because they look exactly the same,’” Walter says, before adding that her “mirror twins” couldn’t be more different. “One’s a lefty and one’s a righty, one’s left brain one’s right brain, the hair swirls left the hair swirls right. One of them is incredibly emo and sort of withdrawn and is all about music and the other one is very out there and aggro and playing football and design computers.”
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Knowing how different her sons were, she knew that the only way to teach them well was to treat them as individuals, not a pair. “I could see in real time teachers that understood that they were different and taught to their strengths, and who they were,” Walter says. “And those teachers were the ones that I just, I so appreciated them because they saw my kids.”
And, much like Walter has always appreciated teachers, teachers have been open about appreciating her and Abbott for raising awareness of the struggles and needs of teachers all across the U.S. “There’s truly nothing that you can hear better as a performer that you made a difference on a scale this big,” she says. “It’s incredibly satisfying because they’re always so, so complimentary and I just say, ‘I just pretend to do what you do every day.’”
BIC’s Back to School Supply Closet event happens tomorrow on August 3. At the event, teachers who show their school ID cards will have access to a “teachers only” are where they can choose BIC products to stock their classrooms totally free of charge. To donate, check out the campaign’s website so you can show your own appreciation for teacher all over the country.
Before you go, click here to see all the celebrities who supported the SAG-AFTRA & WGA strikes.
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