Seven named "Kansas Master Teachers"

Emporia State University announces the selection of seven "Kansas Master Teachers" for 2003.

ESU has honored over 400 educators with the award since 1954. Winners are chosen from among those who "served the profession long and well, and who also typify the good qualities of earnest and conscientious teachers."

Nominations of the candidates are received from local teacher associations, educational organizations and school faculty members. In February a committee representing educational organizations across Kansas selected the seven educators who will be named Kansas Master Teachers.

The 2003 Kansas Master Teachers are:

Tina Buck, Medicine Lodge

— Buck is a sixth grade science and language arts teacher at Medicine Lodge Middle School. She is best known for organizing special events to get students interested in science – such as "Family Science Night" and "Breakfast with a Scientist."

Matt Copeland, Topeka

— Copeland teaches English at Washburn Rural High School. He developed the Washburn Rural Writing Rendezvous in 1999 to give students from Northeast Kansas the opportunity to come together and discuss writing and its relevance to their lives.

Connie Ferree, Emporia

— Ferree is a chemistry teacher at Emporia High School. She has gotten her students involved in state and national programs such as "The Global Water Sampling Project" and the "Kansas Acid-Rain monitoring Project." She is also leader in developing science curriculum for her school district.

Connie Healy, Stilwell

— Healy teaches fourth grade at Stilwell Elementary School. She is especially active in helping produce school musicals. She was named a Blue Valley Master Teacher for 2002-03.

Pamela Gayle Kilgariff, Pratt

— Kilgariff is the counselor at Liberty Middle School. She is a certified trainer in Steven Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens." Before becoming the school counselor, Kilgariff was a sixth grade social studies teacher for 14 years.

Barbara "Babs" Tims, Pittsburg

— Tims has taught fourth grade at Lakeside Elementary School since 1979. Her "Just Imagine City" became a model of free enterprise education for the Kansas School to Careers program. She has also been an organizer of the Young Authors Conference.

Carol L. Woydziak, Dodge City

— Woydziak teaches speech and English at Dodge City High School. She created the school's broadcast journalism program, assembling a studio piece by piece over several years. She has also expanded the schools offerings in creative writing, and coordinates a student literary magazine.

 

Last Updated July 2, 2007>