Award History:

Kids Voting USA works with educators to provide students with a dynamic civic learning experience.  This award recognizes an educator who creatively implements the vital classroom component of the program and also embodies the spirit of Kids Voting USA.

Award Criteria:

• The educator demonstrates a commitment to the Kids Voting USA program goals and mission.
• The educator engages students by creatively using Kids Voting USA classroom activities.
• The educator creates and implements innovative special events and/or classroom activities.
• The educator creates and implements innovative special events and/or classroom activities.
• The educator encourages other teachers to participate and shares Kids Voting ideas.
• The educator motivates students through both teaching and example.
• An educator can be nominated more than once. An educator can only be recognized once a year as “Educator of the Month”
• “Educator of the Year” will be selected from “Educator of the Month” recipents. No additional information is needed for “Educator of the Year”.

For a nomination form, please email rwillis@kidsvotingusa.org

April ’12 Educator of the Month

KVUSA is pleased to announce that Ms. Dee Dee Plotts is the April Educator of the Month. Ms. Plotts is the media center director for the South-Western Career Academy in Grove City, Ohio. She is the Kids Voting Youth at the Booth Coordinator as well as the DoubleClick Democracy coordinator for the school. On March 6th, she found 30 students willing to work from 5:30am to 8:30pm for the Presidential Primary Election.

March ’12 Educator of the Month

KVUSA is pleased to announce that Ms. Rachel Nelson is the March Educator of the Month. Ms. Nelson is a social studies teacher at Grand Mesa High School at Collbran Job Corps and site coordinator for Kids Voting Mesa County. Rachel often makes the “one hour” trip to Grand Junction to allow her students to participate in a variety of activities hosted by Kids Voting Mesa County. Her students research the candidates/issues and then present the information to the entire Job Corps center sharing election knowledge with about 250 people.

February ’12 Educator of the Month

KVUSA is pleased to announce that Mr. Travis Lamb is the February Educator of the Month. Mr. Lamb currently is the Head of Middle School and Middle School Social Studies at Topeka Collegiate. He led the task force for Shawnee County, which has great student participation. He organized meetings, recruited other teachers and community leaders to partake, and arranged the logistics for Election night.

January ’12 Educator of the Month

KVUSA is pleased to announce that Kay Slone is the January Educator of the Month. Ms. Slone is a social studies teach at Eastmoor Academy, which is part of Kids Voting Central Ohio. As an AP government teacher in an urban Columbus City School, Kay has committed herself to teaching students how to find their voice in the political process. In addition to participating in the Youth at the Booth and Youth Summit programs, Kay’s students attend city council meetings, candidate forums and neighborhood commission meetings. Kay’s vision of the engaged, educated student matches the model provided by Kids Voting Central Ohio and Kids Voting USA. She tirelessly seeks out opportunities for her students to become involved in and knowledgeable about the political process.

December ’11 Educator of the Month

KVUSA is pleased to announce that Doug Ewart is the December Educator of the Month. Mr. Ewart is the Guidance Counselor for Groveport Madison High School in Groveport, Ohio, which is part of Kids Voting Central Ohio. Mr. Ewart serves on the Kids Voting Central Ohio Advisory Board and acts as the Kids Voting cheerleader in the district serving as the liaison to all the school buildings. He has coordinated Kids Voting presentations to teachers to assure that teachers are using the materials in their classrooms. Doug takes an added initiative to recruit students to participate and often drives them to the various events. He was instrumental in bringing the Kids Voting and the Youth at the Booth program to Grovesport Madison High School.

November ’11 Educator of the Month – none

October ’11 Educator of the Month

KVUSA is pleased to announce that Kenton Lee is the October Educator of the Month. Mr. Lee is the Assistant Principal for Blendon Middle School, which is part of Kids Voting Central Ohio. Even though he is an administrator in the district now, the legacy of voting that he started at Westerville Central five years ago continues evidenced by the fact that of the three high schools in the district, Central always has the largest number of voters. In 2009, Mr. Lee joined the KV CO Education Advisory Board and, in this role he has been able to share information about Kids Voting with teachers throughout the district.

September ’11 Educator of the Month

KVUSA is pleased to announce that Fran Bartlett is the September Educator of the Month. Ms. Barlett is a social studies teacher at Lawrence High School in Lawrence, Kansas. Not only is she a well respected and much appreciated teacher but also has conducted the county’s Election Night Headquarters for tallying ballots and submission of the final results. Fran gathers up, organizes and trains all the students to work: bringing in the ballot boxes, sorting the materials, tallying the votes for all the various races and issues, keeping updated results flowing on boards for viewing, and completing a final summary of the results. She keeps Kids Voting in the minds of her own students as well as those of other teachers in the building and assists with encouraging them to work polling places on Election Night.

August ’11 Educator of the Month

KVUSA is pleased to announce that Dennis Holt is the August Educator of the Month. Dr. Holt is the Secondary Social Studies Supervisor for the Hillsborough County school district. His leadership and support were instrumental in the success of the DoubleClick Democracy pilot program. The success of the DoubleClick Democracy in the 2008 Presidential Mock Election launched the locally built online voting system to national adoption. More than 115,000 students participated in the DoubleClick Democracy pilot program. Furthermore, Dr. Holt promotes and encourages Hillsborough County social studies teachers to participate in the Kids Voting Tampa Bay program.

July ’11 Educator of the Month

KVUSA is pleased to announce that Mark Matthews is the July Educator of the Month. Mr. Matthews is a history and government teacher at Big Walnut High School in Sunbury, Ohio. His activities have included not only coordinating the high school voting, but securing and training high school students who run the elementary and middle school polling places on Election day. Mark Matthews has been instrumental in initiating and coordinating a program with the Delaware County Board of Elections wherein Big Walnut High School students train with the regular precinct poll workers and on Election day one student is at each precinct in the school district as an observer.

June ’11 Educator of the Month

KVUSA is pleased to announce that Shelby Berthram is the June Educator of the Month. Ms. Berthram is a first grade teacher at St. Joseph’s Indian School in Chamberlain, South Dakota.  Shelby Berthram always teaches her students not only how important it is to vote but also how crucial it is be educated about our democracy and those running for office.  Her enthusiasm and civics knowledge makes her a great role model for the students, staff and friends in Chamberlain.

May ’11 Educator of the Month

KVUSA is pleased to announce that Rae Harriot White is the May Educator of the Month. Ms. White is the Coordinator for Curriculum and Human Resources at the Gahanna-Jefferson Public Schools in Gahanna, Ohio. She began her association with KV in 2000 as a representative of one of the original participating school districts when the Central Ohio program began. From that first year, White has been a strong advocate within her district for the program, holding workshops for district teachers to share curriculum materials, facilitating student participation in Kids Voting elections each year, recruiting and transporting students to the annual Youth Summit and serving on the KVCO Education Advisory Board. “To teachers in Gahanna, White is the face of Kids Voting Central Ohio,” said Jane McMeekin, Education Coordinator, Kids Voting Central Ohio.

April ’11 Educator of the Month

KVUSA is pleased to announce that Paula Lesko is the April Educator of the Month. Mrs. Lesko is the Social Studies Supervisor for the Pasco County School District. She promotes and encourages Pasco County social studies teachers to participate in the Kids Voting Tampa Bay program. Paula organizes candidate forums for high school students. Hundreds of students attend the forums. Thanks to Mrs. Lesko leadership and dedication to the program more than 50 percent of the student population of 70,000 participate in the KVTB mock elections. Kids Voting USA truly appreciates the work and passion Mrs. Paula Lesko demonstrates for our program.

March ’11 Educator of the Month

KVUSA is pleased to announce that Rich Pyszczek is the March Educator of the Month. Mr. Pyszczek is a teacher at the International Preparatory School at Grover in Buffalo, New York. Rich Pyszczek has been an advocate of Kids Voting in his classroom year after year. He not only uses the supplied curriculum, but also takes advantage of UB Kids Voting WNY activities offered such as the Speakers Bureau to bring civics into his classroom. This election cycle, Mr. Pyszczek brought three students to a candidate debate for the 144th NYS Assembly District and each student asked questions of their candidates. He worked with each of the students to identify the issues within their community that were most important to them and then helped them develop their questions. Kids Voting USA truly appreciates the work and passion Mr. Rich Pyszczek demonstrates for our program.