LAMMERS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOLARSHIP 2008 Winner

Janet Lodge

Janet Lodge from Albany received the 4th annual Lammers Professional Development Scholarship at the 62nd annual Oregon Business Education Association (OBEA) Conference held in Salem, Oregon, at the Salem Red Lion Hotel on October 10, 2008. Janet is a part-time faculty member at Linn-Benton Community College as well as being employed full time as the Executive Assistant to the Vice-President of Academic Affairs at LBCC. She has been active in the Willamette Chapter of the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) where she served as president and treasurer. She also served on the Executive Board of the Oregon Division of the IAAP. Other leadership activities have included participating in Leadership Corvallis. Janet received her AAS degree in Administrative Secretary from LBCC (Albany, Oregon), her BS degree in Business Information Systems from Linfield College (McMinnville, Oregon), and a MS Degree in Business Education from Emporia State University (Emporia, Kansas).

The recipient must be a current member of OBEA and be willing to serve in some leadership capacity on the OBEA Council. Janet will receive up to $300 to help defray expenses to attend the 2009 NBEA Convention at the Marriott Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, in April. The Lammers Scholarship was established to honor Mary Ann Lammers, the 2004-05 president of the National Business Education Association (NBEA). Mary Ann is also a faculty member and the Chair of the Business Technology Department at LBCC.

OBEA Fred and Lorrine Winger Scholarship Award 2008 Winner

Anne Marie Mattson

Ms. Anne Marie Mattson, a current undergraduate Double Degree Major in Business and Education at Oregon State University, was the recipient of the Fred and Lorrine Winger Scholarship at the 62nd Annual Oregon Business Education Association (OBEA) Conference held in Salem, Oregon, at the Salem Red Lion Hotel on October 10. She will be starting the first phase of her student teaching at Philomath High School during winter term.
Anne’s main reason for wanting to become a business education teacher is to share her love of the business world with her students. She has held a myriad of positions within the business realm before deciding to study education. During her substitute teaching in the Corvallis School District, she realized how much she enjoyed working with high school students. She intends to become involved in her professional associations and hopes to contribute to the profession by inspiring and encouraging students to pursue business endeavors and instruction past high school.

The Fred and Lorrine Winger Scholarship in the amount of $500 was established in honor of these two individuals who have left a lasting legacy for business educators in Oregon and the nation. Although Fred passed away several years ago, Lorrine still resides in Ashland and attends OBEA when she can.

 

OBEA 2008 Awards Post-Secondary Teacher of the Year Award

Andrea Pace

The Post-Secondary Teacher of the Year award winner has been involved in business education for the past 40 years. During this time she has taught a variety of business courses beginning with shorthand and advancing through computers to teaching Office 2007 and Vista.

She is a member of OBEA, WBEA, NBEA, and ISBE and is currently the Community College Representative for OBEA. She has attended numerous conferences for each of these organizations including traveling to Ireland last summer with ISBE. In addition, she has developed extensive curriculum for her community college. She developed the entire curriculum for the Legal Secretary program for the college AAS Degree including setting up co-op work sites for students to get “real world” experience. She recently developed the curriculum for the Basic Computer Skills course.

Her college Dean of Business and Humanities writes, “She brings knowledge, skills, and a student-centered teaching strategy to her classroom. She responds well to students’ questions and technical problems and handles conflict with a calm demeanor while focusing on resolving the difficulty. She is adept at dealing with multiple students at varying technical levels and does so in a professional and experienced manner.”

One of her students goes on to say, “She was very supportive, helpful, caring and knowledgeable. A professional who shared her time, energy and skill with several different classes in the same room at the same time.”

She enjoys traveling and has traveled extensively for work and pleasure to places throughout Asia, Scandinavia, Europe, Saipan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, Australia, England, Sweden, and Brazil, just to name a few! She incorporates her experiences into the classroom to help students broaden their global perspective on business.

OBEA 2008 Awards Secondary Teacher of the Year

Ann Gerig

Ann Gerig, from McNary High School is in her 35th year of teaching business education. She has instructed in a number of locations and taught a variety of business courses which include Accounting, Keyboarding, Computer Applications, Business Procedures and Business English.

Her professional leadership roles are extensive. She has been a contributing member of OBEA serving as secretary in the past and is currently the Elections Director. She has been the Decorations chair for the annual conference for the past four years. She also holds numerous leadership roles in her high school. She is currently the Department Coordinator for the Business/Family & Consumer Studies/Industrial Technology Department. She is a mentor to first year teachers through her school’s mentorship program. Her commitment to teaching also shows as she teaches a Business Methods class at Willamette University. She states, “I vowed that I would do whatever it takes to better prepare students to be the best business educators possible.” She is truly committed to giving back to her profession.

Although she occupies much of her time with leadership activities, her real passion lies in teaching and working with students. This is obvious in her classroom as it is a place where students feel comfortable, challenged, and rewarded. One student states, “Compassion is one of her many virtues. She cares about all students equally and would do anything to help a student in need. I can remember many instances where she would stay far later than required to help students with an FBLA project or a local community service project, just in case they needed a little support.” Another states, “Of all the teachers that I have had the honor of being educated by, Mrs. Gerig is, without a doubt, the most compassionate, energetic and most effective. It is thanks to her that I have personally chosen a future field of study. Through her classes, I gained confidence and intellect that will help me succeed in the business world.” As an FBLA advisor, a colleague writes, “Our FBLA is exceptionally strong due to Ann’s drive and enthusiasm. She pays her own expenses and sacrifices her personal time to coach, encourage and accompany students to State and National finals.”

In her “spare” time, she enjoys gardening, quilting, reading, sewing, and most importantly, spending time with her family and grandchildren.
Her hard work, determination, selflessness and devotion epitomize what this honor represents.

OBEA 2008 Awards Distinguished Service Award

Ron Dodge

Ron Dodge, Business and Management Specialist for the Oregon Department of Education, has been an advocate for business education for the past 11 years. His contributions to business education are numerous.

He works to keep Business Education programs of study alive and viable in the high schools by educating administrators on the value of business courses to the required curriculum and helping teachers integrate academics and contextual learning in their classes to meet the new diploma requirements, career related learning standards and the Oregon skill sets.

He is a strong proponent for Student Leadership programs. He serves on FBLA and DECA Boards and was awarded the FBLA outstanding Administrator of the Year for 2007-08. He states “Student Leadership programs are a viable means to help students acquire Career Related Learning Standards, technical skills, and even academic skills in real world contexts.”

Leading the way in career pathways, he helped develop a community college statewide program in Retail Management and is currently working on one for Administrative Office Professional. At the Career and Technical Education program level, he has helped shaped the process by which Oregon Carl Perkins dollars are used and helped with the CIM, CAM, new diploma requirements, and Career Related Learning Standards and the Oregon Skill set initiatives, just to name a few.

He is very active in his professional organizations. He is a current member of OBEA, serving as our Legislative Representative. He has been a speaker for our annual conference for several years updating us on legislative issues and statewide initiatives.

He states, “It has been this real world experience that keeps me grounded in the current needs and importance of good Business Education. It is to that end—making Business Education a strong component of as many schools as possible—that I have worked at the Oregon Department of Education.”

A colleague writes, “He has always been an advocate for students and teachers. Through his work on the DECA and FBLA boards and his work for the state department on projects like the skills sets, he has always looked out for what is best for the thousands of students in professional technical studies in the high schools throughout Oregon.”

OBEA 2008 Awards Administrator of the Year

Brent Belveal

Commitment, heart, perseverance, high expectations, energy, and vision are traits of Brent Belveal, Assistant Principal from West Albany High School. He taught for 23 years as a business teacher before becoming an Assistant Principal in 2006.

Brent was nominated by the three business instructors at his school and they have this to say about him. “It is a pleasure to have an administrator who truly understands the intricacies of our department. At a time when many schools cut or neglect programs due to budget cuts or public apathy, our school has actually worked to expand and implement new programs and techniques. Without this advocacy, it is unlikely that our business program would be in the healthy state it enjoys today.”

Another writes, “He’s just so deserving of this award, and not only is he deserving as an administrator but as someone who’s given 25 years to serving other people through teaching, coaching, and mentoring.”

This award winner believes business basics should be a critical part of any student’s education and hopes one day to see, at minimum, an introductory business class made mandatory for all high schools. He states, “I think it is a vital life skill for every kid to have.”

All agree that there is no one more deserving of this award.