Awards!

Last night the Region II conference held its annual Awards Dinner and Recognition. However, before I delve into the results of that, we did have a bit of free time to explore the Daytona Beach area. I went with ACTE Past President Coleen Keffeler out to Ponce de Leon Light Station. We thought we would get caught in the rain, but it held off and we had a great view of the surrounding area.

Ponce Inlet Lighthouse

View from Lighthouse

After that brief excursion, I was able to squeeze in a run along the beach–just had to avoid the cars!

The Region II Awards Program was a nice dinner event in which the region announced its yearly awards for CTE educators. Marcia Day from Alabama hosted the awards program, serving as the Region II awards committee chairperson.

This year, the following awards, nominees and winners were recognized. The first award that was given was for the New Teacher of the Year. The two nominees were:

* Rene Day from Alabama
* Randall Elam from Tennessee

Rene Day won this award, but was unable to be in Daytona Beach.

The second award given was for Outstanding Career and Technical Educator. The recipient of this award was Paggie McSpadden from Alabama.

Paggie McSpadden receives award from ACTE Past President Coleen Keffeler

The final award given was for the Teacher of the Year. This year there were four nominees:

* Patrick Bello from North Carolina (unable to attend)
* Grace Decken from South Carolina
* Gracie Quarles from Virginia
* Felicia Williams from Alabama 

Teacher of the year candidates

The winner of the Region II Teacher of the Year Award is…..

Grace Decken receives Teacher of the Year Award from ACTE Past President Coleen Keffeler

After a well-deserved round of applause, the awards dinner concluded and the attendees went off to explore or to sleep. Although the Region II conference officially ended this morning with a breakfast, I had an early flight so I had to miss it.

All in all I think the attendees had a good conference and all thanks go to Marsan Carr and the folks in Florida for being gracious and accommodating hosts. People are already talking about next year’s conference in Savannah, Georgia! See you there.