iBerkshires.com Columnist SectionSue Bush
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Williams College Names Local Olmsted Awards 200704:00PM / Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Williamstown - Williams College awarded its 2007 local Bicentennial Olmsted Awards for Faculty Development at a ceremony Tuesday, May 8, on the college campus.
The honors are awarded annually to faculty members of the three public schools supported by Williamstown - Williamstown Elementary School, Mt. Greylock Regional High-School, and McCann Technical School.
Each school is granted $5,000 to fund its winning projects.
Williamstown Elementary School
Four projects will share the proceeds at the Williamstown Elementary School: Beverly Ames, Bonnie Dingman, Martha Beattie, Paula de Laurentiis, and Stephen Johnson for the production of a new kindergarten video; Madeline Levy, Paula Plock, Liza Barrett, Beth Nichols and Susan Hyde for the introduction of a regional reading project; Joelle Brookner and Tom Welch for their new math club; and Merry Anderson for "Journey Dance," a plan to introduce and develop movement education.
Mount Greylock Regional High School
The winners from Mt. Greylock Regional High School are Michael Powers for "Digital Photography," Brian Gill for "Adventure Education Improvement," Nelson Russell for "CSI Mount Greylock," Liza Barrett and Sharyn Dupee for "Working with an Author."
Charles H. McCann Technical School
From McCann, the winning project is "Pre-Engineering in Grades 9-12," by Scott Botto and John Euchler. The project is developing the county's first pre-engineering high-school program.
Project Details
One of the grants to Williamstown Elementary School will assist a group of teachers in redoing the school's orientation video for parents of incoming kindergarten students. The second will support teacher training in the use of the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills test to assess the students' progress in reading and of "Bridging the District," planned to encourage a love of reading and to develop a taste for analysis and communication among students. The third will support institution of a math club in preparation for the Math National Olympiads. The last grant will go to Merry Anderson for her project "Journey Dance," to encourage the development of movement education.
At MGRHS, Michael Powers will attend the Adirondack Photography Institute, where he will be trained in using digital SLR cameras for use in teaching of digital computer and video courses. Brian Gill will attend Project Adventure in Beverly, Mass., to prepare for introducing new activities other than the traditional team and individual sports into the physical education curriculum. Nelson Russell will develop a new forensic science course to introduce an interdisciplinary understanding. Liza Barrett and Sharyn Dupee will bring Candice Ransom, author of more than 100 young adult books, to work with children on writing memoirs.
McCann will continue the project begun in 2005 to develop its pre-engineering program and to provide students with the rigorous and relevant knowledge needed to pursue engineering programs in college. Two members of the McCann faculty will get intensive training at the University of New Haven in preparation for teaching "Introduction to Engineering Design" and "Principles of Engineering."
About the Bicentennial Olmsted Award
An endowment from the estates of George Olmsted, Jr. '24 and his wife, Frances, fund the Bicentennial Olmsted Awards. The local awards were established during the 1993 Williams Bicentennial Celebration as an extension of the national Olmsted Prizes, awarded each year to secondary school teachers from across the country, nominated by the Williams senior class as great teachers. Olmsted, a lifelong proponent of superior teaching, was the president and chairman of the board of the S.D. Warren (Paper) Company.
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