| Emery County teacher-of-the-year, Rose Card, discusses the honor she received at an awards ceremony at CEU last Friday. Card was one of 13 nominees in Carbon and Emery counties. |
Emery Telcom hosted the third annual crystal apple awards ceremony on the evening of June 2 in the College of Eastern Utah Jennifer Leavitt Student Center. The event was designed to recognize the outstanding teachers in both Carbon and Emery counties.
The winners of the 2006 crystal apple award included Tanie Worthen, recognized as teacher-of-the-year for both counties; James Thompson, recognized as teacher-of-the-year for Carbon County; and Rose Card, recognized as teacher-of-the-year for Emery County.
Worthen teaches at Castle Dale Elementary. Thompson teaches at Carbon High School and Card teaches at San Rafael Junior High.
This year, there were a total of 13 nominees. Nominations were made by fellow teachers coworkers, family, friends and former and current students. The nominees included Bernadette Paluso from Sally Mauro Elementary, Christine Shaw from Creekview Elementary, Collete Clemente from Huntington Elementary, Helen Piacitelli from Huntington Elementary, James Thompson from Carbon High, Jarel Lofley from Cleveland Elementary, Joni Krompel from Carbon High, Rodney Scott from Carbon High, Rose Card from San Rafael Jr High, Tanie Worthen from Castle Dale Elementary, Thelma Livingston from Canyon View Jr High, Vicki Nielsen from Ferron Elementary and Yvonne Jensen from San Rafael Jr High.
All nominees were recognized and given a certificate of achievement and a $50 check. The winners received a crystal apple award. Worthen received $500 as Southeastern Utah teacher-of-the-year, Thompson and Card received $250 as the teacher-of-the-year in their respective counties. Awards and cash prizes were donated by Emery Telcom. The communications co-sponsored the event with KOAL. Emery Telcom will also be nominating Tanie Worthen for the national rural teacher-of-the-year award, a contest organized by the Foundation for Rural Education and Development. The winner of that nomination will receive a $5,000 technology grant.
The event began with radio announcer Keith Mason reminiscing on educational experiences in his life. Shortly afterwards, station owner Tom Anderson offered some remarks.
Brock Johansen, CEO of Emery Telcom announced and congratulated each nominee, and cited quotes from the letters of support included in the nominations.
Ryan Thomas, president of the College of Eastern Utah delivered the keynote address. He discussed the progression of his education, and explained how his teachers helped shape his future.
The event was organized by Jared Anderson, marketing and external relations manager at Emery Telcom. KOAL radio co-sponsored the 2006 crystal apple awards by publicizing the event.