Nov. 5, 2008
Area teachers to be honored at Celebration
of Teaching
Many dedicated Central Wisconsin teachers will receive well-deserved
recognition at the Oscar W. Neale Celebration of Teaching on
Wednesday,
November 5, at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP).
The event will be held in the Alumni Room of the Dreyfus University
Center on the UWSP campus, beginning with a social hour at 5 p.m.
and a dinner and awards ceremony at 6 p.m. The Oscar W. Neale
Memorial
Endowment, which sponsors the celebration, honors the pioneering
educator and director of rural education at UWSP from 1915 to 1944.
The 2008-2009 Oscar W. Neale Fellowship winner will be formally
announced
at the dinner. Joan Krohn, a Head Start teacher in the Merrill
Public
School District, won the $10,000 award for her proposal to create a
build
a natural playscape for young children in Merrill’s Head Start/Early
Childhood program. Krohn will work with students and faculty from
the
UWSP School of Education and the College of Natural Resources to
create
a play area that will connect the children to nature and encourage
three-dimensional experimentation and imaginative play.
Last year’s three winners of the Neale Fellowship, Amber Garbe,
Kao Lee Lor, and Lee Vang, all of Madison Elementary School in
Stevens Point, will speak about their experience helping their
students’ families create Hmong-language books based on their
personal experiences or traditional stories.
In addition, five area teachers will be presented the Award for
Excellence in Teaching. A $250 gift accompanies each award, and
each has a different UWSP sponsor:
- Association for the Education of Young Children, Award for
Excellence
in Teaching: Marge Andersen, Helen Godfrey Childcare and Learning
Center.
- Kappa Delta Pi, Epsilon Chapter, Award for Excellence in Teaching:
Cheryl Behnke, Stevens Point Washington Service-Learning Center.
- UWSP Student Council for Exceptional Children, Award for Excellence
in Teaching: Rosemary Francsis, P. J. Jacobs Junior High School.
- UWSP Student Wisconsin Education Association, Award for Excellence
in Teaching: Michelle Frola, Iola-Scandinavia Elementary School.
- UWSP Tom Hayes Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching: Larry
Riggs,
UWSP. The Hayes award was established in memory of Tom Hayes, who served
for 17 years as director of student teaching at UWSP, and it honors
veteran teachers who excel as mentors to student teachers.
