Flashback

Commemorating 9/11

1—NWREL CEO Carol Thomas (left) and Equity Center Director Joyce Harris joined staff members on September 11 to commemorate the anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Several people helped to make a flag of paper flowers, and Lorelei Aldridge, Development & Communications secretary, contributed a bittersweet memorial of stuffed toys dressed in firemen’s uniforms. Aldridge’s "kitties,"—centerpieces of seasonal displays—have become unofficial mascots in her program.

Portland Principal Wins Milken Award

2, 3—Humboldt Elementary School Principal Judy Bryant received a 2002 Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award. Bryant was awarded $25,000 and will participate in the foundation’s national education conference. Honored at a surprise ceremony at the school, Bryant called her five years there "a labor of love," acknowledging NWREL’s Patricia Cooney Nida and former NWREL CEO Ethel Simon-McWilliams (in red jacket) for their support of Humboldt’s school improvement efforts.

Judy Bryant thanks Ethel Simon-McWilliams

Rural Educators Come to the City

4—About 380 people came to Portland for the 94th annual National Rural Education Association conference. The venerable NREA brings together administrators, teachers, board members, service agency personnel, researchers, higher education representatives, and others interested in maintaining the vitality of rural schools. NREA Teacher of the Year, Shelley White, a second-grade teacher from Marion, South Carolina, is shown here demonstrating props she uses to motivate students.