CAPE MAY – When Paul Schulte got called to the principal’s office just before Christmas, he thought the same thing any middle schooler at Richard M. Teitelman Middle School experiences when their name is called: “What did I do wrong?”
In Schulte’s case, it wasn’t what the engineering program teacher did wrong, rather it was for his work with the school’s Builders Club and its cleanup of the Bethel Union Civil War Veterans Cemetery. He was being recognized by the Cape May Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 386 as its Teacher of the Year.
Also, he was selected as the VFW District 17’s Teacher of the Year, and nominated for the statewide VFW Teacher of the Year.
A teacher from North New Jersey won the top honor.
“As a vet, his work to clean up the cemetery (on Tabernacle Road) means a lot,” said Post 386 Commander and Assemblyman Robert Andrzejczak (D-1st), who was a sergeant in the Army from 2005-2010. “It’s a unique cemetery because it’s from the Civil War and also an African-American cemetery. It was completely overgrown when Paul started his project, and through his leadership, the Builders Club and others cleaned it up and have maintained it during the summer.
“Now, the Builders Club has made it a permanent part of their mission and will make it better each year. He is deserving of this award.”
Schulte advises the Builders Club and led the charge to clean up the final resting place of Cape May’s and Lower Township’s first African-American families and black Civil War soldiers.
The cemetery was once the site of the Union Bethel Church and the first black settlement in the area. It is the final resting place for a number of families, including the Turners, Vances, Humphries, and Hastings.
Some headstones date to 1834; a stone marks the gravesite of nine black sailors found on Delaware Bay Beach in Lower Township after their ship sank in 1850.
Clearing the land and maintaining it along with the Builders Club were members of the Cape May Kiwanis Club, which sponsors the school club, and the Lower Township Historic Preservation Commission (HPC).
“I am overwhelmed with all of the attention this has gotten,” Schulte admitted. “I never realized that by doing what I thought was the right thing to do, it would garner me the attention it has.
“Not in a million years did I expect something like this,” Schulte said about the recognition. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for my kids. I’ve always thought as a teacher you have to learn how to rally your kids into doing what you need them to do sometimes without them realizing it. My kids fed off my enthusiasm and got excited about this project.”
The group spent at least three workdays last spring clearing the land of trees, limbs, branches, and other debris before placing flags at all the tombstones and re-dedicating it May 24.
Members of the HPC maintained it over the summer, and Schulte said the seventh and eighth-grade club members did upkeep in December and February.
“The community really rallied around the kids and this program,” Schulte said, acknowledging “the community always rallies around its kids.”
Andrzejczak said he nominated Schulte for the local recognition after getting to know him and seeing “his passion for this project.
“To be able to give these vets a proper burial ground in honor of what they fought for means a lot to me as a vet and to the vets of the VFW,” the commander said.
Two other candidates were also nominated at the local level, which covers an area within the Lower Cape May Regional School District.
The local VFW District includes all the posts within Cape May County.
On the local level, Schulte received $100 which he used to treat and recognize the Builders Club members.
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.
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