THE WINNERS' CIRCLE.

THE WINNERS' CIRCLE. At last December's 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 convention, these three outstandingcareer and technical educators received top honors. They have each founda way to achieve the vision of success they had for their students, andthey all share a dedication and commitment to excellence that representsthe best in career and technical education. Mary E. Welch, ACTE-McDonald's Teacher of the Year "You will go into education," Mary E. Welch'scounselor told her. She had spent 15 years in business, but herpotential as a teacher was so unmistakable that it produced that firmdeclaration from her counselor. Welch became a business education major,which she saw as a way to utilize her business background whileteaching. She also wanted a career that would give her summers off withher children. Today she has seven children, eight grandchildren GRANDCHILDREN, domestic relations. The children of one's children. Sometimes these may claim bequests given in a will to children, though in general they can make no such claim. 6 Co. 16. and nosummers off, because her programs are so popular, and she is so much indemand. She even got a laptop so that she can work when she and herhusband take their boat out on the Mississippi River Mississippi RiverRiver, central U.S. It rises at Lake Itasca in Minnesota and flows south, meeting its major tributaries, the Missouri and the Ohio rivers, about halfway along its journey to the Gulf of Mexico. . Mary Welch is an instructor in Computer Information Systems-Recordsand Image Management at Chippewa Valley Technical College Chippewa Valley Technical College is one of the 16 technical and community colleges in the Wisconsin Technical College System, centered in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It serves an eleven-county area with the largest campus located in Eau Claire (actually home to three separate campuses: in Eau Claire,Wisconsin Eau Claire is a city located in west-central Wisconsin. The population was 61,704 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Eau Claire CountyGR6, although a small portion of the city lies in neighboring Chippewa County. . She discovered along her journey through the business andeducation worlds, that she had a love and a talent for working withcomputers, "The more complicated, the better," says Welch."I just enjoy the challenge." Seeing a Need and Filling that Need Not everyone has Mary Welch's natural ability with computers,and she realized that, for a lot of people hired into entry-levelpositions in business, there was no training available. She also heard alot of horror stories horror storyStory intended to elicit a strong feeling of fear. Such tales are of ancient origin and form a substantial part of folk literature. They may feature supernatural elements such as ghosts, witches, or vampires or address more realistic psychological fears. about how people were managing information. Inresponse to these problems, Welch created a distance-learning recordsand information management specialist certificate that is available toanyone in the world. In fact, this five-course, three-credit program isthe only one of its kind in the world, and has been taken by more than500 students. These students have come from 30 states and sevencountries. Every eight weeks, students can begin the classes, but thedemand is so great that there is always a waiting list. Welch still teaches students locally in a lab situation at ChippewaValley The Chippewa Valley was first inhabited by the Ojibwe Indians and settled by German and Scandinavian immigrants. The region also has a large Hmong community. While the term "Chippewa Valley" technically refers to the drainage basin of the Chippewa River and its tributaries, the . Her two-year program there is one of only eight in the UnitedStates United States,officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . Welch also has been her department's chairperson, has beenproject organizer for school-to-work and hosted an annual conference inwhich she actively involved her students. She was a curriculumdevelopment specialist for the college and is a respected areaconsultant. Welch has also been active in education and records managementorganizations. She was president of the Twin City Chapter of theAssociation of Records Managers and Administrators The Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA International) is a not-for-profit professional association for records and information managers and related industry practitioners and vendors. (ARMA), and wasinvolved with the International Education Committee of ARMA. Solving Problems Worldwide One of Welch's most remarkable abilities is her ability tosolve problems, and her distance learning certificate program haspresented her with some unique problems to solve. Some of these were:getting a textbook to a student in Albania for whom she had an incorrectmail code and who had no telephone; how a student from St. Kitts Noun 1. St. Kitts - the largest of the islands comprising Saint Christopher-NevisSaint Kitts, St. Christopher, Saint ChristopherFederation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Christopher-Nevis, Saint Kitts and Nevis, St. Christopher-Nevis, St. , wherethere are no credit cards, could purchase a textbook; getting mail to astudent for whom she had no city code in South Africa South Africa,Afrikaans Suid-Afrika, officially Republic of South Africa, republic (2005 est. pop. 44,344,000), 471,442 sq mi (1,221,037 sq km), S Africa. , where mail cannotbe sent without such a code; opening an e-mail from a student in Spainwhich was sent as encapsulated encapsulatedLocalized Oncology adjective Confined to a specific area, surrounded by a thin layer of fibrous tissue; encapsulation generally refers to a tumor confined to a specific area, surrounded by a capsule. See Islet encapsulation. because it contained a credit cardnumber, and the college did not have a secure site; getting a textbookto a student in Barbados whose family had been caught up in a war inSierra Leone Sierra Leone(sēĕr`ə lēō`nē, lēōn`; sēr`ə lēōn), officially Republic of Sierra Leone, republic (2005 est. pop. 6,018,000), 27,699 sq mi (71,740 sq km), W Africa. . These were all solved--often by e-mail. For the St.Kitts' student, she was able to get a check from the government.She had to break the code of the encapsulated mail of the student fromSpain. This is all in a day's work (Naut.) the account or reckoning of a ship's course for twenty-four hours, from noon to noon.See also: Day for Mary Welch--a consummateproblem solver. Welch has consistently earned praise from students andadministrators alike. "I truly feel that this is the best class I've evertaken," says student Linda Rooker of the Sheboygan PoliceDepartment. "Internet courses require faculty who are responsive andwilling to help their students overcome technology barriers that mayhappen," says a college dean. "Instructors need to beproactive and willing to make adjustments to student needs. Mary Welchis a model of that kind of instructor." Welch still maintains her enthusiasm for her profession after 18years of teaching. As she puts it, "Most of my day is spent solvingproblems, but I love what I'm doing right now. It's fun,because it's challenging." Mary Welch has brought career and technical education to studentsall over the world through her unique records and information managementcertificate program. She has shown them that challenges can be met, andproblems can be solved with the right education and the determination tosucceed. That's what makes her the ACTE-McDonald's Teacher ofthe Year. Frederica L. Kramer, Outstanding Career and Technical Educator ofthe Year Frederica Kramer remembers being inspired by her Linton, Indiana For other uses, see Linton.Linton is a city in Greene County, Indiana, United States. The population was 5,774 at the 2000 census. A coal mining town, it is located southeast of Terre Haute, Indiana. The current mayor is Tom Jones. ,high school home economics teacher, Miss Casey. But her real inspirationwas her father, who had achieved success in life through thefamily's restaurant business, despite having only an eighth-gradeeducation. Encouraged by her father, Kramer enrolled at PurdueUniversity Purdue University(pərdy`, -d`), main campus at West Lafayette, Ind. where she studied to be a dietician dieticianNutritionist A health professional with specialized training in diet and nutrition , and then continued hereducation at Indiana State University Indiana State University,main campus at Terre Haute; coeducational; est. 1865 as a normal school, became Indiana State Teachers College in 1929, gained university status in 1965. There is also a campus at Evansville (opened 1965). studying Family and ConsumerSciences. At Indiana State, Freddie Kramer has earned a great deal of successalong with respect from education and government leaders statewide. Sheworked her way up from instructor to full professor. Today Kramer is thechairperson of the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at IndianaState. What helped her the most in reaching this level of success, saysKramer, is having really good mentors along the way. One of those wasDr. Anne Lee, who chaired the Family and Consumer Sciences Departmentfor 40 years--the very position Kramer took over in 1990. Making a Difference in Her State Kramer's leadership extends beyond her university campus,since she has helped in the development of statewide curriculum."Freddie Kramer is one of those career and technical teachereducators whom we think of first when we need help with a weightyproblem Weighty Problem is an episode of Garfield and Friends. It originally aired on October 29, 1988. Episode recapJon brings home a talking bathroom scale that also tells people their fortune. , and when we need a skilled leader to manage a project,"says a state department of education official. Summers are equally productive times for Kramer. She is workingwith a training program for secondary education teachers,"Chemistry of Foods and Nutrition." She also teaches a verysuccessful interdisciplinary course--50 percent of the students are inFamily and Consumer Sciences and 50 percent are from other disciplines.All of the teachers who take this course leave it with a completed grantproposal, and half of these grants have been funded. Making a Difference in the World One of Freddie Kramer's most compelling achievements has beenCARE, Communities Against Rape and Sexual Assault Rape and Sexual AssaultDefinitionThe various definitions of rape range from the broad (coercing a person to engage in any sexual act) to the specific (forcing a woman to submit to sexual intercourse). , which she has beenworking on for the past five years. Kramer directs the project--apartnership with Purdue University--that was primarily a result of theViolence Against Women Act. "I was not an expert in this when I started, but I havelearned so much," says Kramer. "I became passionate about itwhen I saw the lives it ruined-not only for the young women, but alsothe young men." The CARE material has been shown to make a difference in Indianastudents' knowledge and attitudes, and the program has attractedattention from other states. Kramer will be traveling to Russia topresent at the University of Moscow and to a women's group in theUkraine, so the program may someday some��day?adv.At an indefinite time in the future.Usage Note: The adverbs someday and sometime express future time indefinitely: We'll succeed someday. Come sometime. serve as an international model. Freddie Kramer and her husband, Don, a retired vocationalagriculture teacher, own a large farm in Indiana, but she is not yetready to retire. "I truly love to work with the college-agestudents," says Kramer. "I have worked with some wonderfulyoung women and men, and I love to see them after they have becomesuccessful. I have even seen some of my graduates 15 years later becometeachers of the year." Somehow, their successes do not seem so surprising, when youconsider the example they had to follow. Gigi Gano Ekstrom, Outstanding New Career and Technical Teacher Gigi Ekstrom says that she became a teacher completely by accident.She had started her own business after leaving her marketing job atCampbell's Soup Company and was teaching part time in the traveland tourism department at a community college. She was then asked toteach a dual credit course at the high school, and now she can'timagine doing anything else. Ekstrom teaches at Thomas Jefferson High School Thomas Jefferson High School may refer to: Thomas Jefferson High School (Denver, Colorado) Thomas Jefferson High School, Tampa, Florida Thomas Jefferson High School, Rockford, Illinois Thomas Jefferson High School, Cedar Rapids, Iowa in Dallas, Texas “Dallas” redirects here. For other uses, see Dallas (disambiguation).The City of Dallas (pronounced [ˈd?l.əs]or [ˈd?l. , aschool where the majority of the students are considered atrisk--economically disadvantaged students make up 70 percent of theschool population. Eighty percent of the students are Hispanic; fifteenpercent are African American African AmericanMulticulture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.See Race. . Since Gigi Ekstrom began teaching there in1996, the students in her marketing and travel and tourism classes haveachieved successes that would be impressive for any group--much less anat-risk group of students. Ekstrom says, "It never crossed my mind that theycouldn't do it." Creating Self-Confidence Her belief in them made them believe in themselves, and more than80 percent of them have gone on to college. This year, 100 percent ofher seniors were accepted to college, and 100 percent receivedscholarships. While about half of her students go on to study eithermarketing or travel and tourism, Ekstrom tells them that it doesn'tmatter what they study; she just wants them to find something that makesthem happy. Her students accounted for the vast majority of seniors atthe school that received scholarships, so now she is also doingworkshops, tutoring and helping with financial aid applications forstudents who are not in her regular classes. Ekstrom is also involved with DECA DeCA Defense Commissary Agency (US DoD)DECA Delta Epsilon ChiDECA Distributive Education Clubs of AmericaDECA Defense and Economic Cooperation Agreement , and her chapter has wonnumerous awards, including an outstanding chapter award for the pastfive years. This year, 22 of her students qualified for the DECAnationals, and one is the official Texas candidate for Southern RegionalVice President. As part of their final projects, juniors in Ekstrom's traveland tourism class draw names of countries out of a hat, then researchand give a presentation as the marketing representative of theircountry. A local television station has filmed the presentations andaired them along with interviews with the students. More Than Just a Teacher Gigi Ekstrom and her husband recently had their firstchild--although, she considers her students "her kids" also.Some of them have lived with the Ekstroms temporarily, and she stays intouch with the students, even after they have graduated. Her firstclass, the class from 1996, still gets together for barbecues. Onemember of that first class graduated from Texas College last year, andsays Ekstrom with the voice of a proud parent, "He was first in hisclass." He began teaching this year in the Dallas Public Schools. It'samazing 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 someone can accomplish against difficult odds when he has ateacher who believes so strongly that there is nothing he can't do.