The winners' circle: learn a little more about the teachers who received top honors at the ACTE Convention in Orlando this past December.

The winners' circle: learn a little more about the teachers who received top honors at the ACTE Convention in Orlando this past December. Clifford D. Vrieze, ACTE ACTE Association for Career and Technical Education (formerly American Vocational Association)ACTE Association of Corporate Travel ExecutivesACTE Approvals Committee for Terminal EquipmentACTE Anodal Closure Tetanus Teacher of the Year Clifford Vrieze's involvement with agriculture education goesback to high school, when he attended what he describes as a very goodcomprehensive high school with very good instructors. After graduatingfrom the University of Minnesota (body, education) University of Minnesota - The home of Gopher.http://umn.edu/.Address: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. , he became a high school teacherhimself before moving to the University of Nebraska. At Nebraska he fou nd that the typical college professor job was notquite what he wanted, but he has found his true calling in teaching FarmBusiness Management courses at Minnesota West Community and TechnicalCollege. He teaches at the Truman High School office location, which isan extension of the Jackson campus, and has been there since 1986. Vrieze's program has an annual enrollment of 50 students, whoattend part time because they are fully employed adult farmers. Theyrange in age from about 25 to 65-plus. Some are sons and daughters offamily farmers, and some are even retired farmers. The farms theyoperate are just as varied. The largest one is approximately 3,000acres, and the smallest one is 160 acres. There are a couple of things that make the Farm Business Managementprogram unique, notes Vrieze. "We are located off the collegecampus in a local school district that supplies the office. It's acollaboration between the district and the state college." Another unique thing, says Vrieze, is that, "We are workingwith entrepreneurs--in this case farmers--not teaching a skill or atrade or basic academics in pursuit of a bachelor's degree. Manyalready have completed their college degrees." The program also takes nine years to complete. Because theeducational approach is based on the farm business being a nine-year"case study" problem, Vrieze designs a case study for eachindividual student in which the farm family's actual personal,family, business and financial situation and goals determine theinstruction plan. "The focus of the program is on financial management of thefarm business," explains Vrieze. "We don't tell them whatcrops to plant, what herbicides to use or what fertilizer fertilizer,organic or inorganic material containing one or more of the nutrients—mainly nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, and other essential elements required for plant growth. to use." Instead, the concentration is on accurate computerized accounting,income tax optimiza tion and budgeting. "It's amazing a¡¤maze?v. a¡¤mazed, a¡¤maz¡¤ing, a¡¤maz¡¤esv.tr.1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise.2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex.v.intr. what you can teach an entrepreneur,"comments Vrieze. "They tend to be people who are always going,doing and thinking. A large part of what we do here is to try toaccumulate information and to keep them focused." He says that while the basic concepts involved in family farmingdon't change drastically over time, there are always differentnuances to old issues, and there are new issues that crop up--whetherit's a trend toward leasing rather than buying or changing taxlaws. There were some drastic changes in a new farm bill last year, soVrieze says, "We had to educate them on how that would affect themand what options they should take." Keeping family farms viable is an issue of importance to all ofus--and of even greater importance to the communities where they arelocated. Recognizing this, the area banks and farm service agencies haveworked in cooperation with Vrieze. Last year, 30 percent of his studentsreceived partial tuition assistance from their primary lenders, andduring his tenure at the college, three area banks have awarded morethan $30,000 in annual scholarships to his students. These institutions see the value in such investments and theimportance of keeping these businesses operating. "If they can keep the families in the community and keep thefarms viable, it means that much more to their business as the communitycontinues to thrive," Vrieze explains. "They understand thatsynergy The enhanced result of two or more people, groups or organizations working together. In other words, one and one equals three! It comes from the Greek "synergia," which means joint work and cooperative action. ." The spirit of cooperation is something that Vrieze embodies in histeaching, and one of his colleagues notes that, "He displaysexceptional ability to wo rk cooperatively, harmoniously har¡¤mo¡¤ni¡¤ous?adj.1. Exhibiting accord in feeling or action.2. Having component elements pleasingly or appropriately combined: a harmonious blend of architectural styles.3. and productivelywith all facets of the agriculture education programs," furtherdescribing him as "a man of high professional, moral and ethicalstandards." With all of his accomplishments, it should not have been totallyunexpected when Clifford Vrieze was named the ACTE Teacher of the Year.But there was a certain element of surprise for Vrieze because he haswhat some would consider a bit of a disability. He stutters. In high school, he had a serious problem with stuttering stutteringor stammering,speech disorder marked by hesitation and inability to enunciate consonants without spasmodic repetition. Known technically as dysphemia, it has sometimes been attributed to an underlying personality disorder. , and ifnot for the encouragement of FFA FFAfree fatty acids. and hi s agriculture teachers he mightnot have participated fully in high school. That encouragement continuedin college, where his agriculture education professors never said thathe couldn't go into teaching just because he stuttered. When he was named ACTE Teacher of the Year, he was honored to berecognized for his accomplishments, but he was also impressed that thosewho gave him the honor would, as he puts it, "take a chance on memaking a speech and stuttering," "That's gutsy guts¡¤y?adj. guts¡¤i¡¤er, guts¡¤i¡¤est Slang1. Marked by courage or daring; plucky.2. Robust and uninhibited; lusty: "the gutsy . . . ," says Vrieze. Although, in retrospect, he notes that, "I've had only afew instances where I've been discriminated against, but I'venever experienced that with career and technical education. It has neveraffected a career and technical educator, and that's amazing." Dr. Linda K. Anderson, ACTE Outstanding Career and TechnicalEducator Linda Anderson discovered her pass ion for career and technicaleducation as a marketing education student in high school, and now sheis making sure that high school students in her school district have thesame opportunity to find something they will love to do in the future. Anderson taught marketing education for 15 years before becoming anadministrator. Today she is the director of career and technologyeducation in the Birdville Independent School District The Birdville Independent School District is a K-12 public school district based in Haltom City, Texas (USA). It has about 22,000 students in 32 schools. Its superintendent is Stephen F. Waddell. (BISD BISD Basic Instruments and Selected DocumentsBISD Built-In Self DiagnosisBISD Baby-Induced Sleep DeprivationBISD Built-In Stuff Detector (polite form)) in TarrantCounty, Texas Tarrant County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2000, the population was 1,446,219. Its county seat is Fort Worth6. Tarrant County is the second most populous co unty in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and contains its second largest principal city. . The school district serves more than 22,000 students infive cities, and all of the district's high schools have beendesignated as High Schools that Work. In her 14 years of supervising the programs offered at thedistrict's three high schools, seven middle schools, onealternative school and the career center, Anderson has won praise forthe innovative programs she has implemented. Career and technicaleducation in her school district is now a program that is well respectedby students, educators and business and community leaders. "We built and designed our program as part of the overallinstructional division," explains Anderson. "We've neverconsidered ourselves separate from the academics or core areas. Ourteachers, in the true sense of the word, integrate academics into thecurriculum." She has worked to make sure that the CTE (Coefficient of Thermal Expansion) The difference between th e way two materials expand when heat is applied. This is very critical when chips are mounted to printed circuit boards, because the silicon chip expands at a different rate than the plastic board. courses not only provideher students with marketable skills, but that they also facilitate aseamless transition into postsecondary education, and BISD has morestudents entering college through tech prep than any other district inthe county. There is also a strong business advisory committee in place throughthe district's School-to-Work Coalition. "Every spring, business and industry representatives go intoour laboratories and classrooms to evaluate our programs," notesAnderson. Through this process, they can be certain that the education andtraining being provided to the students will meet the needs of businessand industry. This in turn helps the schools receive the funding theyneed for such programs. Anderson oversees an annual budget of $3.4million and has secured more than $ 1 million in grants and more than $1million in bond issues for CTE. Anderson maintains a spreadsheet--which she has shared throughoutthe state--in which she calculates how much each program is generatingin funding. "Our department is able to look at the overall numbers for thedistrict and make sum we are on target," Anderson says. "Andwhen the business and industry representatives come back with theirrecommendations, this process helps us create our annual budget." When she's not busy dealing with committees, budgets andsupervisory duties, Anderson still finds time to devote to professionalorganizations such as ACTF ACTF Australian Children's Television FoundationACTF American College Theater FestivalACTF Army Constructive Training FederationACTF Advanced Components Test FacilityACTF Anti Chronos Task ForceACTF Altitude Control Test Facility , and she has tried to help with almost everycareer and technical student organization's conference wheneverthey call upon her. She has been particularly active in DECA DeCA Defense Commissary Agency (US DoD)DECA Delta Epsilon ChiDECA Distributive Education Clubs of AmericaDECA Defense and Economic Cooperation Agreement , serving asTexas DECA conference chairperson chairpersonChairman The head of an academic department. See 'Chair.', Cf Chief. , chairperson of the Secondary AdvisoryCouncil for National DECA, and for six years as conference coordinatorfor National DECA. She has served as an adjunct adjunct (aj´ungkt),n a drug or other substance that serves a supplemental purpose in therapy.adjunctprofessor at the University of NorthTexas since 1984, and although she is not teaching this semester se¡¤mes¡¤ter?n.One of two divisions of 15 to 18 weeks each of an academic year.[German, from Latin (cursus) s , she isstill available during any semester that her services are needed. One of the things Anderson is most proud of in her district is thecareer planning in which they assist their students. The s tudents allreceive "Educational Planning for Life--Choose Your CareerPathway," which is a course catalog Noun 1. course catalog - a catalog listing the courses offered by a college or universitycourse catalogue, prospectuscatalog, catalogue - a book or pamphlet containing an enumeration of things; "he found it in the Sears catalog" , similar to a college catalog catalog,descriptive list, on cards or in a book, of the contents of a library. Assurbanipal's library at Nineveh was cataloged on shelves of slate. The first known subject catalog was compiled by Callimachus at the Alexandrian Library in the 3d cent. B.C. .In it, the students can review five career clusters Career Clusters provide students with a context for studying traditional academics and learning the skills specific to a career, and provide U.S. schools with a structure for organizing or restructuring curriculum offerings and focusing class make-up by a common theme such as and select a careerpath to follow. Th at career path may lead to success as it did for one of thedistrict's students who left high school with certifications fromCisco and Microsoft, as well as some college credits. He was hired byDell, and Anderson reports This article refers to a Report on Scientology. For the Anderson Report into UK Higher Education see Anderson Report.The Anderson Report is the colloquial name of the report of the Board of Inquiry into Scientology, an official inquiry into the Church of that he is already earning a good salary lessthan a year after leaving high school. The company is also paying forhim to complete his postsecondary education. "The sky will be the limit for him," she says proudly,and she wants no less for all of her students. Anderson sees a strong career and technical education program suchas theirs in BISD as "a plan for the future" that givesstudents not only the core academic competencies and technical skills,but also the opportunity to spend time learning what they wan t to do. "I believe that the greatest gift we can give any student ishelping them to know what their passion is," says this passionate,award-winning career and technical educator. Sherry Christine Foster, ACTE Outstanding New Career and TechnicalTeacher Sherry Foster is originally from Houston, Texas “Houston” redirects here. For other uses, see Houston (disambiguation).Houston (pronounced /'hjuːstən/) is the largest city in the state of Texas and the , where she workedin the oil and gas industry after graduating from the University ofHouston with a master's degree master's degreen.An academic degree conferred by a college or university upon those who complete at least one year of prescribed study beyond the bachelor's degree.Noun 1. in Management Information Systems.But Houston's loss became Tahlequah's gain when she married ayoung man from Oklahoma. After some time off and the birth of her firstson, Foster started in a contract teaching job at the Tahlequah campusof Indian Capital Technology Center Indian Capital Technology Center (ICTC) is a technical school affiliated with the state of Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education.that helps students and adults become more productive and economically efficient in our society. and before long had gotten both herteaching certificate and a regular teaching job at the school. Although she started in the business program, when the opportunityto train for the Cisco Networking Academy The Cisco Networking Academies, part of Cisco Systems, offer networking courses, like the CCNA and CCNP courses, which prepare students for the certification exams of the same name, and other computer-related courses. program came up, she jumped atthe opportunity. Foster says that her director was "wonderful"in letting her then develop the Information Technology (IT) program intoone that is separate from the business program. That decision has paidoff in a big way, with enrollment in the program from the high schoolsthat are the technology center's feeder schools Feeder school is a name applied to schools, colleges, universities, or other educational institutions that provide a significant number of graduates who intend to continue their studies at specific schools, or even in specific fields. jumping from 10percent to more than 60 percent in the first three years. The program has been so successful at the Tahlequah campus that itwas implemented at two other campuses of Indian Capital TechnologyCenter, and Foster was asked to take the lead in its implementation.Starting in August, the Microsoft Academy will join the Cisco NetworkingAcademy at the Sallisaw campus of Indian Capital with plans already inthe works to expand it to the Tahlequah and Muskogee campuses. The ever-changing nature of the IT industry is one of the thingsthat Foster finds both exciting and challenging for herself and herstudents. "It is constantly evolving," she says. "That kee psit exciting and keeps it fun." It's an industry in which Foster says, "Six months is alifetime," so the instructors must also constantly update theirskills and knowledge. That's why they do training sessions throughthe Cisco Academy and a number of in-house seminars with their industrypartners. Foster maintains all of the certifications that she is helpingher students to achieve. "Not only does our curriculum change each year," notesFoster, "but so does our field." By attending the training seminars of the school's industrypartners, however, they can be assured that what they are teaching iswhat those partners will need. She also ensures that her students getwhat they need in the form of up-to-date equipment by securing donationsand supplies through corporations such as Williams and SouthwesternBell For information on the holding company Southwestern Bell Corporation, later SBC Communications, Inc., and now AT&T Inc., see AT&T.Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P. . Foster has been an active member of the Tulsa Technology Center Tulsa Technology Center is a Tulsa, Oklahoma public college and affiliated with the state of Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education. It offers courses in business and technology. Advisory Council and the IT Pathway Development Team, but she creditsthe cooperation of both the industry partners and the high school andcollegiate col¡¤le¡¤giate?adj.1. Of, relating to, or held to resemble a college.2. Of, for, or typical of college students.3. Of or relating to a collegiate church. partners with making the IT program so strong. The industrypartners have ensured that what the students are learning is relevant tothe real-world workplace and have even given the students job shadowing,on-the-job training and employment opportunities. The education partners work together to ensure that efforts are notduplicated and that the students have clear career pathways to follow. "Our biggest strength is our career p athway development,"says Foster, who adds that the technology center's administrationhas been very supportive of the effort. Because a strong team was established and continues to worktogether, she sees that, "The kids are the winners in theend." Foster believes that her industry background helped prepare her forteaching because it gave her the opportunity to apply the skills thatshe is teaching her students, so she now views it as a stepping stone toher career in education. One of her former students says of Foster, "She is aprofessional that could easily triple her salary working in theprofession she instructs, but instead she is teaching, and because ofher our lives are changed forever." Foster says that teaching is very different than working in theindustry, but adds that "It's a whole lot more rewarding whenyou see the achievements of your students and know you've made adifference. It's a career I didn't intend to pursue, but now Ican't see myself doing anything dif ferent." Gloria Haiwick, Outstanding Teacher in Community Service Gloria Haiwick is in her 28th year of teaching, and if her studentshad their way, she would be teaching for another 28. "Every class says, 'You can't retire until wegraduate, Mrs. Haiwick,'" she explains. Not only does she teach high school family and consumer scienceseducation to freshmen through seniors, she also teaches an exploratoryclass to seventh and eighth graders. So she could be teaching forever! Throughout her teaching career, Haiwick has promoted communityservice through her classroom curriculum and her work with the studentorganization for family and consumer sciences, Family, Career andCommunity Leaders of America (FCCLA FCCLA Family Career and Community Leaders of America (formerly Future Homemakers of America)FCCLA First Congregational Church of Los Angeles (California)). Her FCCLA chapter has won 11 STARevents since 1997, and in 2001 was presented the first-runner-up awardfor the FCCLA ST OP the Violence program. This year the chapter was firstrunner up for Career Connections, which is also a national program forFCCLA. Haiwick and her students have also participated in the Kids forSaving Earth Club, Project SAFE (Safety Awareness and First-AidEducation) and Families First. Highmore High School, where Haiwick teaches, is in a rural area ofSouth Dakota South Dakota(dəkō`tə), state in the N central United States. It is bordered by North Dakota (N), Minnesota and Iowa (E), Nebraska (S), and Wyoming and Montana (W). , but Haiwick and her students visit the Children's Innshelter in Sioux Falls Sioux Falls,city (1990 pop. 100,814), seat of Minnehaha co., SE S.Dak., on the Big Sioux River; settled 1856, inc. as a village 1877, as a city 1883. Settlers abandoned the site in 1862 because of Native American raids, but with the establishment (1865) of Fort each year. An administrator of the nearbywomen's shelter A Women's Shelter is a place of temporary refuge and support for women escaping violent situations, such as rape, and domestic violence. Having the ability to leave a situation of violence is valuable for women who are under attack because such situations frequently involve an also comes to Haiwick's class and holdsworkshops as part of STOP the Violence. That's how the studentslearned that the shelter is always in need of grooming Combining, consolidating and segregating network traffic using devices such as digital cross-connects, add/drop multiplexers and SONET switches. Grooming is a telephone term that typically refers to managing high-capacity lines between central offices, carriers, ISPs and very large items, so theybegan assembling grooming kits and delivering them to the shelter. Theyhave also donated clothing, cleaning supplies and household items thewomen will need when setting up housekeeping A set of instructions that are executed at the beginning of a program. It sets all counters and flags to their sta rting values and generally readies the program for execution. in a new home after leavingthe shelter. The students collect toys for the children at Christmastime and have given books, mittens, scarves scarves?n.A plural of scarf1.scarvesNouna plural of scarf1 and hats to the shelter andday care centers in the community. Haiwick and her students participate in projects that benefitcommunity members and span all ages--from babies to the elderly.Throughout the year they visit the local nursing home, providingcompanionship companionshipthe faculty possessed by most truly domesticated animals. They are social creatures and have a great need for the companionship of other animals. Animals in groups are quieter and more productive as a rule. and entertainment. Two of her freshmen boys recentlytreated the Senior Citizens Home residents to in-house movies, using aborrowed screen and a DVD player A stand-alone device that plays DVDs. It contains a DVD drive and the electronics to dec ode the digital video. The device may play only manufactured DVDs, or it may be able to play DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD+RW discs. DVD players are cabled to a TV or home theater system for display. . Since there is no movie theater in thesmall town, and it is not easy for the senior citizens to travel 50miles to get to the nearest theater, the Sunday afternoon screeningswere a real treat. They were amazed a¡¤maze?v. a¡¤mazed, a¡¤maz¡¤ing, a¡¤maz¡¤esv.tr.1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise.2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex.v.intr. that the two boys would give uptheir Sundays to provide entertainment and serve them lunch or dinner. About seven years ago, when she was serving as Families First peereducation advisor for the state of South Dakota, Haiwick became involvedin a project that provides quilts for AIDS babies. More than 800 quiltswere donated throughout the state. "More than 89 quilts were donated from this town," saysHaiwick, "and 15 were ma de in my class." They still make quilts and now they are also making blankets forProject Linus. Through this project children undergoing treatment forcancer receive blankets that they can take home with them. Haiwick andher students learned about the project in a very personal way. One ofher seniors had cancer, went through treatment and received a blanketfrom Project Linus. "When he brought his blanket in, it make it very real for thestudents," notes Haiwick. "Now our FCCLA chapter is gettingtogether a team for the Relay for Life Relay For Life (often shortened to Relay) is a fundraising event of the American Cancer Society, and is now held in many other countries. It is an overnight event designed to spread awareness of cancer prevention, treatments and cures, celebrate survivorship and raise money ." Haiwick says that in a small community such as hers, there isalways a need for something to be done, and she has inspired herstudents to see that it gets done. "I always tell them that community service is the rent that wepay for living," she says. As one of her students explains, "Ms. Haiwick instills anunspoken philosophy in all her students, making serving others seemsecond nature." Oh, she will retire some day--in fact, she could now if she wantedto, but she says for now, she still enjoys working with teenagers andstill loves what she does. "I'm not quite ready to retire yet," she adds. And for that her students and her community can be grateful.