A look at what’s going on in the field of education.

Russellville wins Ky. School Board award

The Kentucky School Board Association has awarded a Public Education Achieves in Kentucky Award to Russellville Independent Schools for the system’s districtwide, performance-based education program.

Russellville’s schools offer performance-based education at all grade levels, allowing, for example, elementary students to attend middle school social studies classes or middle schoolers to take algebra at the high school.

Thanks largely to the program, the district ranked eighth on the list of most improved CATS scores in 2006. During the 2006-07 school year, every student at the middle school earned at least one high school credit in algebra I, geometry, physical education, keyboarding or music.

“Instead of sitting in a classroom in which (a bored student) has clearly mastered the content, he is now able to move to a classroom in which the content area is more challenging,” wrote Stevenson Elementary School teacher Cyndi Young in a letter nominating the system for the PEAK Award.

Technology has also been a key to the program, with the system creating a virtual learning academy to allow students to take online classes through universities and the Kentucky Virtual High School. The district also invested in laptops for every teacher.

The PEAK Award was established in 1997 by the KSBA board of directors.

Collins of WEMS is Teacher of the Year

Warren East Middle School teacher Sharon Collins has been selected as Teacher of the Year by the Kentucky Association of Teachers for Family and Consumer Sciences. She will represent the state in the 2009 competition for national FCS Teacher of the Year.

Collins has taught at the middle school level throughout her teaching career in Warren County Public Schools.

Her career started at Henry F. Moss Middle School, where she had the largest Kentucky Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (then Future Homemakers of America) chapter. For three years she left teaching to work for the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service as a family and consumer science agent in Hart County. She left the position in 2000 to return to middle school teaching.

WKU dean appointed to board by Beshear

Dr. John Bonaguro, dean of Western Kentucky University’s College of Health and Human Services, has been appointed by Gov. Steve Beshear to the Southern Growth Policies Board.

Bonaguro replaces Frank Jemley on the board, which works to improve facilities and procedures fro study, analysis and planning of government policies, programs and activities of regional significance. The board assists in prevention of interstate conflicts and promotion of regional cooperation.

Beshear also reappointed WKU history professor John A. Hardin to the Kentucky Oral History Commission through 2012.

The commission is a nationally recognized program with a collection of more than 25,000 oral history interviews and was created to preserve the legacy of Kentuckians.

WKU’s Dana Adams

wins NextGen award

Dana Adams, a student in Western Kentucky University’s Nonprofit Administration (American Humanics) minor program, has been selected for a national nonprofit internship award.

Adams, a graphic design major from Franklin, will receive the NextGen award. The award is part of an American Humanics Inc. national initiative funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The award provides recipients with a $4,500 nonprofit internship stipend to help support them while participating in a 300-hour internship required for the American Humanics national nonprofit certification, also a requirement for the WKU Nonprofit Administration minor.

Adams was chosen from a national pool of student applicants and will intern this summer with Habitat for Humanity of Simpson County in Franklin. Adams’ honors thesis will focus on brand management in nonprofit organizations. Adams has also received the national Habitat for Humanity Student Volunteer Award.

BG Christian Academy represented at art fest

The State Association of Christian Schools International Art Festival was April 18 at Whitfield Academy in Louisville.

Bowling Green Christian Academy was represented by art work from students Jake Trabue, Taylor Boswell, Emily Schuette, Lauren Sledge, Victoria McClary, Abby Harnack, Amanda Kieffer, Nathan Cherry, Rachel Osborne, Hannah Higgins, Colleen Henson, Sydney Denton, Samantha Brooks, Matthew Propst, Hannah Williams, Ashleigh Sewell, Hannah Schuette and Gabrielle Sledge.

Trabue was awarded sixth-eighth grade Best of Show for his Picasso-inspired self portrait and Higgins was awarded third-fifth grade Best of Show for her mixed media family tree origami folded book. Their art work will be sent to and displayed at the National ACSI Convention.

Bowling Green Christian Academy students also brought home eight superior ribbons, nine excellent ribbons and four good ribbons.

Three BG students

recognized at Union

Three Bowling Green area students were recognized during Union College’s recent Honors Day Convocation and Co-Curricular Awards ceremonies in Barbourville.

Brian Strunk earned the Student Development Division Service Award for exceptional service, a CIRCLES Award, given to the student who best exemplifies the core values of the college, and a National Student Participation Award for his work with the mock trial team at Union. Strunk is a junior psychology major at Union and a graduate of Warren East High School.

Jason Lane Wilson was presented with the Dr. Cecil H. Wilson Junior Award for the junior student with the highest scholastic average, and the Wimmer Chemistry Award for the student showing the greatest promise in the field of chemistry. Wilson is a junior math major and a graduate of Warren East High School. He is the son of Sharlene Newton of Bowling Green.

Emily Ground, sophomore biology major, received the Outstanding Tutor award for her outstanding work as a tutor in Union’s Academic Resource Center. Ground is also a graduate of Warren East and is the daughter of Stevie Elwood and Loria Ann Ground of Smiths Grove.

Union College is a private liberal arts college in Barbourville and related to the United Methodist Church.

BG’s Sabiston wins

Sumitomo scholarship

Sumitomo Electric Wiring Systems Inc. announced that Derek Sabiston, son of Deana and the late Robert Sabiston of Bowling Green, is a recipient of a 2008 Sumitomo Spirit for Education scholarship.

Sabiston, a senior at Greenwood High School, is a member of the Student Technology Leadership Club, the Philosophy Club and the Art Club. He has been recognized by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association for the past three years for his participation on the Greenwood High School soccer team. In addition, he has also been recognized for his academic achievements in receiving Awards of Excellence for English, Yearbook Creativity and Advanced Multimedia.

He is active outside school, participating in SKY FUTBOL and Warren County recreational basketball as well as designing artwork for GHS clubs, sports and camps. Sabiston plans to attend Western Kentucky University this fall.

The Sumitomo Spirit for Education Scholarship Program was created in 1997 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the founding of Sumitomo Electric Wiring Systems Inc. The scholarship provides one-time awards of at least $1,500 to children of associates planning to attend an accredited college, university or vocational school.

6 complete Dynamic Leadership Institute

Under the leadership of Dr. Juanita Bayless, associate dean and campus director, and James McCaslin, assistant director, Western Kentucky University’s Glasgow campus celebrated the completion of its Dynamic Leadership Institute this spring.

Six students completed Phase One of the program and five others advanced through Phase Two.

The graduates are Lori Avery, Bambi Button, Mike Fogle, David Scott, Jane Wyatt, Blair Ramsey, James Abney, Sabrina Ellis, Trae Gordon, Jessica Harrelson and Kimberly Rushing.

The students participated in six leadership programs. Topics addressed in the training were leadership style, creative problem solving, the role of personality in leadership, diversity strategies, visionary leadership, emotional intelligence, business etiquette and team decision making. Students celebrated the completion of the program May 2 at a banquet in Glasgow.

The campus has provided DLI’s initial phase since the fall 2002 and added the second phase in fall 2005. The program is offered each semester.

Six Warren Countians graduate from Murray

The following Warren Countians were among the May graduates of Murray State University:

David Briggs, bachelor of science; Taylor Brown, bachelor of science in nursing; Erin Hampton, bachelor of science; Shannon Lynn, bachelor of science; Carolyn McAliley, bachelor of science; and Andrea Slaughter, bachelor of science.