For several decades, Margo Jacobson built her teaching career on a simple principle: before learning academics, children must be taught kindness and respect.

It’s a philosophy that took shape early on when she was working in schools in Detroit. She was drawn to classrooms that others avoided, which opened her eyes to the realities many students faced, and the trust required to teach them. When she moved to Vancouver in the 1970s, she quickly stepped into challenging classrooms, often bringing extra clothing and food for students in need. Over the years, she taught every grade, but was most passionate about kindergarten.

“Kindergarten is unique because it’s the most critical age to give children the best foundation,” says Margo. “I used to spend the first six weeks just talking about kindness and respect. We would role play with examples, like what to do if someone is being excluded on the playground.”

As Margo approached a milestone birthday, and with retirement on the horizon, her sons Jeff and Jeremy wanted a creative way to honour their mother—a woman they describe as being put on earth to improve the lives of kids and to inspire those around her. They decided to “go big” by establishing the Margo Jacobson Award in Teacher Education, awarded each year to UBC Bachelor of Education teacher candidates whose practicum took place in kindergarten to grade three classrooms, and who demonstrate social and/or economic barriers to accessing higher education.

“Throughout this process I learned that establishing an award is a lot more accessible than you might think—you don’t need a large amount of wealth to make it happen—and it’s a really cool way to pay tribute to important people in your life,” says Jeff.

For Jeff and Jeremy, UBC felt like the perfect place to establish this award.

“I am a lifelong Vancouverite, and my family is proud to call this city home, so we wanted to support students who live here and are likely to teach here,” he says. “My brother and I felt this award was the best way to celebrate our mother, by giving back to the community like my mom has, and by inspiring future generations of educators to have the same impact on their students that our mom had on hers.”

Today, Margo is enjoying retirement and has taken up new hobbies such as painting. Despite no longer being in the classroom, she still takes time to mentor teachers and to support kids in any way she can.

“My wish is that people continue to come together to make our education system better, and that the award my sons set up is one small part of this,” she says.