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Center For Academic Excellence:
Articles:
2004 Gathering of Champions
WEM Award Winners Announced
Available Now! Reach for the Stars catalog
Several hundred of Minnesota's Academic All-Stars, joined by family and friends, were on hand at Camp Snoopy in the Mall of America on August 6, for the annual Gathering of Champions celebration.
The Gathering of Champions was launched in 1990 by the Minnesota Academic Excellence Foundation (MAEF) as a way of recognizing outstanding students in MinnesotaÕs elementary and secondary schools and celebrating their academic accomplishments. This year, more than 3500 students from nearly 200 Minnesota schools and school districts were named as Academic All-Stars by their school officials earlier this year.
As part of their recognition, the students were invited to attend a day at Camp Snoopy and participate in one of ten hourly recognition programs, receive an awards package that included a commemorative certificate of achievement and mementos, and enjoy discounted entertainment and shopping at participating Camp Snoopy and Mall of American merchants. More than twenty dignitaries, headed by Minnesota Education Commissioner Alice Seagren, were on hand throughout the day to offer their congratulations and encouragement to the students, family, friends, teachers and principals who attended the event.
The Gathering of Champions is administered by the Center for Academic Excellence (CAE), working in partnership with
MAEF and several sponsors who underwrite the operational costs of the event.
Teachers from Faribault, Hutchinson, Mahtomedi, Eden Valley-Watkins and Duluth, and an elementary school principal from Minneapolis, were named as this year's recipients of Outstanding Educator Awards by the WEM Foundation and will be honored at a brunch in October.
Receiving Teacher Achievement Awards for outstanding service in helping students overcome barriers to learning were Mark Lessman of Faribault and Angela Judd of Hutchinson. The Academic Coach of the Year Awards went to James Schwarzbauer of Hermantown and Bonnie Spohn Schmaltz of Eden Valley-Watkins. The recipients of the Ethics in Education Award were Rebecca Stroud of Mahtomedi and Ossie Brooks James of Minneapolis.
The Outstanding Educators Award program is in its sixth year of sponsorship by the WEM Foundation, which was created in 1998 by Whitney and Elizabeth MacMillan to honor the "unsung heroes" of the teaching profession. The WEM Awards seek nominations and recommendations from students, parents, teachers, administrators, education professionals and community members for potential honorees. The nominees are asked to submit additional information for consideration and judging by a blue ribbon panel of evaluators, with the selected honorees each receiving an unrestricted $10,000 award and a personal crystal apple award in recognition of their contributions to excellence in teaching and learning.
Available Now! Reach for the Stars catalog
The popular Reach for the Stars catalog is now available for school officials interested in the latest information on
academic enrichment challenges and competitions that have received the state Academic League Council's review and endorsement.
Printed copies of the catalog are being circulated throughout the state by the Center for Academic Excellence and a bevy of education partners, including the South Central Service Cooperative and several other service cooperatives, the Minnesota Department of Education, and several state educational organizations. Electronic copies, in both Acrobat pdf and Word versions, are also available online at www.mnaef.org.
The 2004–2005 catalog lists about 100 activities and programs that currently are available on a statewide basis, and have been reviewed and endorsed by the state's Academic League Council on the basis of six criteria related to the educational value and benefit to students and schools.