Mark I. Clemons
ACTE-McDonald?s Teacher of the Year
In the years he spent working in the heating and air conditioning business?in both his own company and for other companies?Mark Clemons found that the biggest problem in the industry was getting good workers. So after eight years, he decided to become part of the solution to that problem and got involved in setting up the heating and air conditioning program at the local tech center.
He was teaching evening classes at Meridian Technology Center in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he had helped to shape the air conditioning program, when a full-time teaching position became vacant. With encouragement from the school?s director, Clemons took the position and taught there for 18 years before his move last year to Canadian Valley Technology Center in El Reno.
At both schools, he has worked hard to keep the programs on the cutting edge of technology and has been praised for his hard work in incorporating students of all ages, backgrounds, genders, races, abilities and disabilities into his classes.
Clemons is described by one of his peers as, "a pioneer in self-paced curriculum and peer tutoring in trade and industrial education."
But for his students, that education extends beyond the classroom with practical applications that have brought numerous benefits to both the community and the school itself. Each year, Meridian Technology Center students build a speculative house in a neighborhood near the school, and Clemons? class has installed the heating and cooling system. These houses have sold for $170,000 to $200,000.
For two years, his students also did the heating systems for Habitat for Humanity houses. They have done work on two houses and several apartments for Action Inc., a local Stillwater association that provides housing for the homeless, and they have provided their services for some of the local churches.
Both schools where Clemons has taught have received the benefit of his students? services?at Meridian they even installed three or four full systems. Projects such as these, says Clemons, "made real-life situations for my students to participate in."
In addition to being a teacher and mentor to his own students, Clemons has been a mentor for new teachers in Oklahoma, which he calls "one of his favorite things" to do.
"Many of the new teachers coming in?particularly in career and technical education?don?t have a lot of education-related experience," he notes.
Clemons has served on a residency committee for new teachers. He was on the board of CareerTech Connect and helped the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education set it up as a Web site online professional development tool for teachers?both new and experienced. He was one of the master teachers listed on the site, with his areas of expertise as advising students and facilitating instruction.
Clemons spent last year working for the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education and as the state SkillsUSA-VICA director. And since he is in his first year of teaching at Canadian Valley, he says that technically, "I?m now a new teacher myself." So, as "a new teacher," he is not doing any formal mentoring but still finds himself acting as a consultant, since other teachers still call him for advice.
One of the things he can tell them about is National Board Certification. "Becoming a National Board Certified teacher is probably the single experience that helped me to grow more than anything else," says Clemons. "It forced me to examine how I teach and why I teach."
The many students and teachers with whom he has shared his knowledge, skills and experience can only be grateful that he did choose to teach, because that decision has helped them achieve their own successful careers. For Mark Clemons, the decision to become a teacher has taken him along a path filled with many professional honors and awards?and this year that path brought him to Las Vegas where he was named as the ACTE-McDonald?s Teacher of the Year.
Mary Eagon Jacquart
ACTE-McDonald?s Outstanding Career and Technical Educator
In December, when she received the award as the ACTE-McDonald?s Outstanding Career and Technical Educator, Mary Eagon Jacquart was the system director of the Educational Grants Program for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. By March, she had a new position, becoming the federal government relations coordinator for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System, thus taking one more step forward in a career that has been marked by success.
In her new job, she will continue her efforts on behalf of career and technical education and will still be working on Perkins reauthorization issues, WIA and TANF.
Jacquart has a background in family and consumer sciences education and has taught at the college level. She also has a counseling degree, so she brings much to the table when it comes to career and technical education.
In collaboration with Adair County Human Services in Missouri, she developed a pilot project of four parenting classes to provide court-ordered education for abusive and teenage parents. In Minnesota, she has worked with colleges on implementing career tech programs and was part of a state School-to-Work leadership team.
Jacquart contributes her time as a mentor for high school students, and if it?s election time, she can be found assisting with "St. Paul Kids Vote," which is intended to interest students in the political process.
As system director of the Educational Grants Programs, Jacquart?s main task was administering the Carl D. Perkins Applied Technology Act of 1998 for the state of Minnesota. It was a job that she performed with such distinction that the U.S. Department of Education?s Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) took notice. Seeing the work she did in Minnesota, OVAE asked her to help with workshops and facilitation at OVAE conferences for states.
Because of her postsecondary background, Jacquart is committed to forging strong connections between secondary and postsecondary institutions, and in Minnesota there is a strong postsecondary options program. "What I find most engaging," comments Jacquart, " is the relationship between secondary and postsecondary."
She feels that we need to work hard at strengthening that relationship as well as the relationship between both of those levels of education and career and technical education.
Another issue of importance for Jacquart is college readiness for career and technical education students and she says, "There needs to be just as much attention given to preparation of students heading to two-year colleges as for those going on to four-year universities."
That?s another area in which she sees the need for colleges and high schools to be working together?with high school teachers expressing to their students how necessary both academics and technical skills are. Jacquart points out examples in which rigorous academics are needed, saying that you can?t go into electronics without math or into nursing without science or communications skills.
Even with the uncertainty of the future of Perkins, Jacquart is still optimistic that through the cooperative efforts of career and technical education professionals at all levels, we can give our nation?s students the kind of education that will enable them to achieve success in the workplace.
"Our capacity can be strengthened by tapping into each other?s expertise and momentum," she states.
And she adds, that by working together on issues such as Perkins and on programs such as tech prep, "We can give students a vision of success for themselves, and they will see that they can go on to college."
Mary Eagon Jacquart?s vision of student success includes a strong career and technical education component?at both the secondary and postsecondary levels. Described by her colleagues as "positive, committed and passionate about career and technical education," receiving the ACTE-McDonald?s Career and Technical Educator of the Year Award is not likely to cause Jacquart to relax her efforts toward achieving that vision. And now she has a new job in which to continue her work.
Linda Rucker Smith
ACTE-McDonald?s Outstanding New Career and Technical Teacher
Linda Rucker Smith was a marketing consultant for five years before being recruited into teaching while working on several projects for business organizations. That?s when people from the local community college and the local public school system convinced her that she should be working for a classroom full of students instead of for one client at a time.
Although the first year Smith says she sometimes wondered what she had gotten herself into, she knows that she would do it again "without a second thought."
In fact, she notes, "If I had known the rewards were so great, I would have done this from the beginning. But then," she adds, "I wouldn?t have the benefit of my own experience to bring to the classroom."
Smith still has her own marketing consulting business, for which she mostly works in the summers, since her teaching job keeps her so busy during the school year. She likes to say that she only does consulting now to support her teaching habit.
Smith worked at Tri-County Technology Center in Bartlesville, Okla., for four years before coming to Northeast Technology Center (NTC) in Pryor. At Tri-County she established a new marketing program, set up a student store and created new instructional materials. She promoted the program to area schools and employers, and recruited high school and postsecondary students.
When Smith came to teach at NTC, the marketing program was off campus, in a building in the middle of a downtown area of one of the five counties that the technology center serves. At NTC, the feeling was that the program could be expanded to include students from the other communities that could send students to NTC. So Smith brought the program onto campus, spurring a tremendous growth. Enrollment more than doubled, and a waiting list had to be initiated.
At NTC, Smith established an e-business and online store. Her students created their own logo, and then they designed clothing and specialty items with the logo that they market onsite and through their e-business. The logo is a success story in itself. The public information officer at NTC was so impressed with it that he asked for it to be presented to the Board of Directors, which led to its adoption by the five-county school district.
Smith describes her program as very community based. "My students and I go out into the community and find projects that need to be addressed," she explains. Local businesses may have need of business planning, marketing planning or in achieving more profitability. By finding projects that interest them and then matching their talents with the needs of private businesses and nonprofit organizations, Smith?s students are able to develop their marketing skills while also benefiting their community.
That fits into the description Smith offers of career and technical education as "a partner to businesses and students, to match the learning needs and individual goals of the students to the businesses."
She believes that, "Everyone should have access to the education that best suits their needs and abilities, and that education must also meet the demands of the surrounding business community."
Smith?s former students are among the new entrepreneurs in their community?with businesses that range from real estate to jewelry to child care centers. One student has designed a ladder that will help firefighters get to buildings more quickly. Another designed a lock system so that windows can be opened and closed more easily. While her curriculum is designed to be school-to-career, the vast majority?more than 92 percent?of her students continue with their education.
Smith sees the potential in these young entrepreneurs and is helping them to see it also. Says one former student, "Linda took a student like me who was struggling in school due to alcohol and drugs and turned my life around. During my first year under her guidance, I became a member of the National Honor Society. She is very dedicated to every last one of her students."
Seeing such changes is just as rewarding for Smith who comments, "It is just a joy to see them reach that turning point."
She views teaching as changing the world one student at a time and says, "I find the best in myself by helping others find the best in themselves."
In describing her teaching philosophy, she offers a quote from Plato: "Students are not vessels to be filled, but lamps to be lit."
She implements that philosophy with her commitment to her students. "I promise each of my students that I will believe in them," says Smith, "so they will learn to believe in themselves."
Machelle Louise Bonde
ACTE-McDonald?s Outstanding Teacher in Community Service
When she found out that she was to be the recipient of ACTE?s Outstanding Teacher in Community Service Award, Machelle Bonde told her students that it was really their award, but she would be happy to go and accept it on their behalf.
"They?re the ones who have given their service over the years," says Bonde. "This award is my students? award more than it is mine."
Teaching family and consumer sciences education at a small K-12 school in Volga, S.D., which is in the Sioux Valley School District, means that Bonde gets to know all of the students?and gets to teach them all for a semester each in seventh and eighth grades. The seventh grade class on drug and alcohol prevention allows her to teach life skills that involve decision making and goal setting. The eighth grade class is career exploration in which the students actually get to do job shadowing.
"One of the things I like is that I get to connect with them at a young age and then follow them all the way through," Bonde says.
Many of the students maintain that connection, because one-third of the high school enrollment at the school is in Bonde?s FCCLA chapter?something that makes her feel very proud. She can also be proud of the record of her chapter. Under her guidance, the Sioux Valley Family, Career and Community Leaders of America chapter has been recognized at all levels for its community service projects, and members have won a record 19 national awards.
Among her students? projects are home safety lessons for latchkey kids, the Safe Halloween Carnival, a Christmas Angel and Toy Tree, a bicycle safety rodeo, a before- and after-school enrichment program, a children?s career fair and Character Counts lessons. Two years ago, they originated Love Boxes for Make a Difference Day. The students collected, packed and distributed donations for assisted living centers, domestic abuse shelters and for babies in need at the local hospital. This year they held a hat and mittens drive for Make a Difference Day.
Three years ago, a round of budget cuts resulted in the loss of aides in the school?s elementary classrooms. At that time, Bonde was teaching a class on leadership through service learning. Seeing both a need and a way to meet that need, the students in Bonde?s leadership class became teen tutors?a project that is still carried on today by FCCLA members and the leadership through service learning class. Many of the students give up their study hall time to do the tutoring.
"You see them all over the school," says Bonde of the student-tutor teams. "Sometimes they are sitting together in the hall reading. It?s a very rewarding process to watch."
And, of course, the other teachers are extremely appreciative of the help.
That is reflective of the approach Bonde takes with her service projects. She has the students survey community needs, then work in teams to do brainstorming and planning. She sees herself as more of a facilitator, as most of the project ideas come from the students themselves.
"It amazes me, some of the creative things they come up with," Bonde comments.
While she is humble about the role she plays in her students? success, her colleagues and students call her both an inspiration and a role model.
"I cannot put into words the impact her life has had on the students of Sioux Valley High School and our community," says one of her students. "I have never met another teacher who cares more about the lives, problems, families and futures of her students."
Her teaching philosophy, explains Bonde, is that, "When young people become involved in hands-on and service learning, there is an increase in their learning and in their self-esteem. And that?s the beauty of career and technical education. It offers a huge opportunity to give them those types of experiences."
Career and technical education runs in Bonde?s family; her husband teaches marketing at a career tech school, and her twin daughters are college freshmen majoring in family and consumer sciences. And as someone who teaches her students about service to others, she is very proud of the service role taken on by her son, who is in the military.
While she recognizes that not everyone would like to spend every day with a group of teenagers, Machelle Bonde can think of nothing she would rather do. After 28 years of teaching, she still loves what she does.
