Hector Ibarra (IA ′93)
Added July 2, 2010
Hector Ibarra's students were the recipients of Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge. Their project on lead wheel weights was the contest’s national winner. The team sought to expose the dangers of lead wheel weights in vehicles and to phase out this hazardous material in the tire industry. As a direct result of student presentations, the city and school districts agreed to phase out lead wheel weights in district-owned vehicles. In addition, the students teamed up with several legislators to develop three bills proposing to phase out the harmful metal. Ibarra’s students presented at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, visited with EPA administrator Lisa Jackson in Washington, D.C., and shot a commercial for Green Planet, an eco-friendly pest control company.

Norman Conard (KS ′92)
Added July 1, 2010
The Lowell Milken Center in Fort Scott, KS, under the direction of Executive Director Norman Conard (KS ’92), mentored ten student projects across the country that made the finals in the National History Day championships held in June at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD. While a former student of Conard’s herself, LMC Program Director Megan Felt helped to create “Life in a Jar: the Irena Sendler Project” as a National History Day project that has since achieved international renown and inspired the Center’s mission to teach respect and understanding.

Roger Wilcox (IA ′00)
Added June 30, 2010
Roger Wilcox, principal of Waverly-Shell Rock CSD in Waverly, IA, was named Iowa Music Educators Association Outstanding Administrator for the Support of Arts Education as well as the School Administrators of Iowa Arts Administrator of the Year.

Rick Crosslin (IN ′98)
Added June 30, 2010
Rick Crosslin was named Education Conservationist of the Year by the Indiana Wildlife Federation. This is the latest in a series of awards, including a 2005 Emmy, for Crosslin who is the school liaison for science learning with the Children’s Museum in Indianapolis.

Alex Carter (VA ′03)
Added June 30, 2010
Alex Carter has co-written a book with colleague Tim Healey, titled The Insider’s Guide to High School: A Parent’s Handbook for the Ninth Grade Year. They presented their recommendations to an audience at the 2010 National School Board Convention in Chicago.

Victoria Seeger (KS ′04)
Added June 24, 2010
Victoria Seeger has co-authored a book with Rita Moore, Building Classroom Reading Communities: Retrospective Miscue Analysis (RMA) and Socratic Circles published by Corwin Press. Moore and Seeger also co-authored a recently published article in Literacy Research and Instruction titled, "Dear sincerely: Exploring literate identities with young children and pre-service teachers through letter writing." Seeger successfully defended her dissertation, Collaborative Retrospective Miscue Analysis: A Pathway to Self-efficacy In Reading in October, and received her PhD in curriculum and instruction at Kansas State University in December.

Robert Whitehouse (NE ′97)
Added June 20, 2010
Bob Whitehouse was elected as the 2010-2011 vice chairman of the Nebraska Board of Regents for the University system. He is presently co-coordinating the Middle School Learning Center Initiative (MSLCI), an afterschool program for middle school students in the Omaha Public Schools. This collaboration of services by the school district, city of Omaha and the Sherwood Foundation has received national attention for its services and extended learning activities in conjunction with Building Bright Futures.

Dr. Maggie Mejia (CA ′93)
Added June 19, 2010
Maggie Carrillo Mejia was honored with a Monty Award for distinguished alumni of San Diego State University (SDSU), where she earned a master's in multicultural education and a bachelor’s in Spanish. The Monty is a symbol of achievement and success presented to distinguished alumni from each of SDSU's seven academic colleges.

Marilyn Garza (CA ′07)
Added June 18, 2010
Marilyn Garza was named Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year. Garza teaches physical science at Santa Barbara Junior High School in Santa Barbara, CA.

Allen Giese (ND ′03)
Added June 16, 2010
Allen Giese was recognized by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department as Hunter Education Instructor of the Year. He teaches agricultural education for the Southeast Region Career and Technology Center at Wahpeton High School in the city of Wahpeton and mentors two first-year agriculture teachers.

Dr. Julie Williams (TN ′95)
Added June 16, 2010
Dr. Julie Williams was inducted into the Nashville YWCA's Academy of Women of Achievement honoring women whose "leadership serves and inspires others to succeed." She was also recognized by the local NBC television affiliate for making a difference in the lives of students at Maplewood High School. After two years under William’s leadership, Maplewood, which had failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress for the previous eight years, became a school in good standing.

Peter J. McLaren (RI ′01)
Added June, 15, 2010
Peter J. McLaren is president-elect of the Council of State Science Supervisors (CSSS), a professional organization composed of science education specialists with the state, territorial or the protectorate educational agency in the United States and its territories.

Javier Gonzalez (CA ′97)
June 14, 2010
Javier Gonzales was selected to serve on the President’s Council of Advisors of Science and Technology (PCAST) by the Office of Science and Technology Policy Executive Office of the President. The committee will make recommendations to President Obama on issues related to STEM education. Gonzalez continues to teach mathematics at Pioneer High School in Whittier.

Kim Slotsve (ND ′01)
Added June 12, 2010
Kim Slotsve has been appointed to the National Board of Directors of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. Kim is currently principal of Red River High School in Grand Forks, ND.

Pender Makin (ME ′01)
Added June 11, 2010
Pender Makin and the Windham REAL School, where she serves as director, were awarded a $73,000 grant to fund the 2010-2011 Teen Aspirations Program through the Juvenile Justice Advisory Group. Makin’s students recently returned from a service learning trip to the Dominican Republic, where they provided medical care to Haitian refugees and built a Good Samaritan Hospital.

Joan Baltezore (ND ′05)
Added April 1, 2010
Joan Baltezore recently completed her first book A Format for Biology Supplemental Workbook. She is currently piloting the workbook in her remedial biology class. As a Milken Educator, Baltezore feels compelled to keep pushing herself into new ways of growing and contributing to the profession. As such, she participated in her first webinar to promote the book. Information about the book can be found at www.aboutlearning.com. At the time of her Milken Educator Award, Baltezore was teacher at West Fargo High School in West Fargo, North Dakota. Today she still teaches at West Fargo High and is also the chair of the biology and life science department.

Dr. Steven Paine (WV ′95)
Added March 23, 2010
Dr. Steve Paine, Virginia superintendent of Schools, has been named president-elect of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). He was elected to the nine-member board of directors in 2007 and re-elected last year. At the time of his Milken Educator Award, Paine was the principal of Buckhannon-Upshur Middle School in Buckhannon, West Virginia.

Thomas J. Sferes, Ed.D. (ME ′91)
Added March 20, 2010
Thomas Sferes, a university instructor at the University of New England and a teacher at Biddeford Middle School, received the 2009 Exemplary Practice Award from the Maine Association of Middle Level Educators (MAMLE) together with his colleague Diana Mullins, for their yearlong "Kindness Crew Initiative" at Biddeford Middle School. To learn more about this initiative, visit teacherweb.com, scroll down and click on “BMS Kindness Crew Blog.” At the time of his Milken Educator Award,Sferes was a teacher at Kennebunk High School in Kennebunk, Maine.

Francis Mustapha (IN ′93)
Added March 15, 2010
Francis Mustapha, a teacher at Snider High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, has been selected as the recipient of Dolly Parton's 2009 Chasing Rainbows Award by The National State Teachers of the Year (NSTOY), which annually recognizes a state teacher who has overcome obstacles to become an exemplary teacher. Mustapha, who was born in an impoverished city in Sierra Leone, did not have access to any formal education until he was 10 years old. Eventually his hard work in school paid off and he was accepted to Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana, where he earned a master's and education specialist degree. At the time of his Milken Educator Award, Mustapha was a teacher at South Side High School, also in Fort Wayne.

Dr. Doreatha White (VA ′02)
Added March 11, 2010
Dr. Dorothea White, principal of Dreamkeepers Academy in Norfolk, Virginia, recently announced that the school has been selected as a 2010 Virginia State School of Character. This recognition allows the school to enter the competition to become a 2010 National School of Character.

David Borth (MI ′94)
Added March 3, 2010
David Borth, chair of the Network of Michigan Educators, has been presented with the State Board of Education’s Dorothy Beardmore Service To Education Award. Borth, of Big Rapids, Michigan, is also the director of the Hawthorne Learning Center, adjunct professor at Ferris State University and former administrator for Big Rapids Public Schools. The award is named after the late Dorothy Beardmore, past president and member of the State Board of Education from 1985-2001. It is given to the person whose efforts on behalf of education and education reform are deemed to be of outstanding benefit to the quality of education for all Michigan students. At the time of his Milken Educator Award, Borth was the principal of Eastwood Elementary School in the city of Eastwood.

“It doesn't seem possible that it's been nine years since I was sitting with my own Class of 2001! On that day, I began an amazing journey that has impacted my life in a profound and powerful way—as well as the lives of other educators and students in Louisiana that I have had the privilege of meeting along the way."

— Vicky Condalary (LA '01), Louisiana TAP executive master teacher, addressing new Milken Educators at the May 2010 Milken Educator Forum in Santa Monica, CA