If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, then several of Russell Arms’ teachers should feel very good about the positive influence they had on their former student.
Arms, a 28-year veteran educator with the St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS), credits mentors from early in his life with helping shape him into the teacher he is today. And today, Arms is one of the St. Louis American Foundation’s 2015 Excellence in Education awardees.
The seventh of nine children of Russell and Geraldine Arms, Russell Jr. himself is a product of SLPS.
“My parents greatly influenced my life,” Arms said.
He also cites Robert Hudson and Charles Shelton Jr. as two of his early influences, and later Josephine Herman and Floyd Irons, the legendary basketball coach at Vashon High School. Arms played four years of basketball for Irons, and was a starting forward on the Wolverine’s 1983 state championship team.
“I am made of up small pieces of them,” said Arms, who has taught physical education at Lexington Elementary School for the past six years. “My role models tirelessly gave their all to us as children and young adults. So I do the same for my students. For me, there is nothing more priceless that positively touching the lives of not only of my family, but also the students, parents, fellow teachers, administrators and the community.”
Arms played basketball at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, Okla. During his time at SWOSU, Arms played against and became friends with Wayman Tisdale of the Oklahoma Sooners and Dennis Rodman, who went on to win NBA championships with the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls. After graduation, Arms attended a tryout camp for a professional basketball league and was selected to play in Italy.
But Arms knew where he wanted to ply his craft as an educator after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in physical education. So he returned to St. Louis.
“I decided to become a coach, mentor and teacher like my role models because they were a great inspiration for young people,” Arms said. “I only applied to teach with the St. Louis Public School district because I have always been a proponent of public education and I wanted to give back to the school district that has given me so much.”
Arms has taught pre-kindergarten through 12th grade at Dunbar, Laclede and Scullin Elementary schools, Langston Middle School and Vashon High School. He coached basketball as Irons’ assistant for 20 years, and briefly as boys’ varsity head coach. He also was the head coach of the Vashon boys’ and girls’ tennis teams, the girls’ varsity and boys’ B-team basketball squads, and also served as athletic director for two years.
While at Langston Middle School in 1994, Arms completed a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from National Louis University. His building principal then was Hudson, whom Arms admired as a youngster and under whom Arms worked his first teaching job in a middle school setting.
Throughout his tenure with SLPS, Arms been nominated and won several awards for his service. He was the Physical Education Teacher of the Year in 2012, and was nominated for same award in 2002. Arms received the Emerson Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2014.
“Mr. Arms is more than a physical education teacher. He is a beacon of light and a pillar of our community,” said Myra Pendleton, principal at Lexington Elementary School.
Arms not only teaches health and physical education, he also lives it.
“I like to think that I practice what I preach,” he said. “I enjoy interacting, exercising with the students and playing/coaching different sports. I have a lot of passion for what I do. I love working with all my students, and having the opportunity to teach them how to be healthy and physically fit while building self-esteem.”
Arms and his wife Anitra, his high school sweetheart, have been married for 22 years and have two daughters. Briah, 21, is a senior studying biology at Clark Atlanta University. Aniah, 13, is in the eighth grade. Anitra also is a dedicated veteran educator with SLPS. Arms serves as a volunteer coach for his daughter Aniah’s basketball team since second grade, and mentors children and young adults while encouraging them to become lifelong learners and achievers.
One of Arms’ favorite motivational quotes is from Irons, his coach and mentor, who wrote it in Arms’ senior yearbook. Irons wrote, “Hard work and dedication will lead to successful accomplishments.”
“With that quotation in mind, I try to encourage my students to never give up regardless of what they encounter; always turn a negative situation into a positive one,” Arms said.
