Dennis O'Laughlin
Crawford County Area Vocational Technical School,
Meadville, PA

A Commercial Art teacher at Crawford County Area Vocational Technical School, PA, Dennis O'Laughlin goes out of his way to ensure his students have a chance to achieve success.

"Initially, when I was a traditionally aged student right out of high school, I wanted to become an art teacher because of the very low level of art instruction I received throughout my high school years," shares Mr. O'Laughlin. "There were about five or six of us in my high school class who were really advanced and we were given no real instruction or guidance to allow us to move to the next level. Art classes were like study halls with paint and brushes."

Mr. O'Laughlin returned to college as an adult and graduated at the age of 39. By that time he had become a graphic artist and had gained a great deal of experience with computers.

"The poor instruction I had observed as a high school student was also noticeable at the college level when it came to training future teachers in the area of computers and technology," acknowledges Mr. O'Laughlin. " So, I began to develop a real passion for not only becoming the best art teacher I could be, but an instructor who could provide this generation with the meaningful application of computer technology in their careers, instead of having them use computers as game machines and toys."

As a result, Mr. O'Laughlin found his niche as an instructor of Commercial Art and Design. In 2000, only three weeks after graduating Magna Cum Laude from Edinboro University, Mr. O'Laughlin landed his current position as a Commercial Art instructor.

"Denny is an excellent Commercial Art teacher. His students are going to some of the finest Art schools in the nation - Parsons, Pratt, RIT, Philadelphia, Cleveland, etc.," said fellow colleague Eric McGuirk. "He takes students on these college visits every year - parents go as well. It often costs him a lot of his own money. He has even used vacation time and weekends to take his students with their portfolios to these schools so they could be evaluated for acceptance and considered for scholarships."

In fact, in 2007 one of Mr. O'Laughlin's students received a $160,000 scholarship to the Parsons School in New York City.

Crawford Country Area Vocational Technical School subscribes to Bridges' Choices Planner and Ability Profiler online resources to help students identify their interests and skills in order to create meaningful education and career plans. As a teacher, Mr. O'Laughlin lives for watching young people realize their own untapped potential and to thoughtfully craft their own future.

"There is nothing finer in this life than to help another person realize the purpose for their life and develop the habits and practices that will ensure their success," shares Mr. O'Laughlin. "Further, I try to instil in them the realization that beyond building their career into a life's work which will enrich community and society, they will find their greatest happiness in helping another to find their dream as well."

Mr. O'Laughlin goes on to add, "Beyond the teaching and the passing of traditions and practices involved in this craft of design, there is only one thing that I provide for my students that will cause them to believe in themselves, which is what any child must have to really learn... I show them that I love them and that I desire with all my heart that they succeed."

Dr. Tony Fagbemi
St. Louis public schools Sumner MEGA program,
St. Louis, MO

"Dr. Fagbemi should be commended for such determination and student success," insists colleague Bob Green. "He has carried out his assigned teaching duties this year without the assistance of any technology. His multimedia coursework is technology reliant and his missing technology has propelled him to new heights of teaching."

Originally from Nigeria, Dr. Tony Fagbemi received a diploma at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) and a BA at the University of IFE, (now OAU). Once in the United States, he earned his Masters of Education at University of Missouri Columbia and a PhD in Educational Media Technology at Ohio University. Dr. Fagbemi taught at Lincoln University for three years before his present appointment as a Multimedia and Animation Specialist for the St Louis public schools Sumner MEGA program, where he currently teaches Multimedia and Animation for the Career and Technical Education Department. He is also an adjunct professor at Harris-Stowe State University.

"Ever since I was in elementary school, I was quick to discover a gap between schooling and the real world experiences. What happens within the school setting bear little or no relevance to the real life situation or at best mostly abstract ideas of the real world which schooling portends to prepare students for," shares Dr. Fagbemi. "To me, the advent of technology brought the much needed welcome relief to the classroom as it tends to bridge the world of abstract ideas in the classroom with that of reality - real life experiences of the world out there. Now, it is possible to virtually bring the world to the classroom through technology thereby saving the teacher and learner time and long convoluted descriptive and tortuous sentences of imaginary ideas of the real world. I am determined to help in this area."

Dr. Fagbemi's methods have managed to inspire students with poor attendance records, chronic tardies and undesirable behaviors to come to school, be on time for class, and actually use their lunch periods to work on their projects. "There are even students that are flunking most subjects that are passing or even acing his class," adds Mr. Green.

Dr. Fagbemi's goal is to help develop a functioning total person that is well adjusted to society, by using his course to help them discover themselves, the joy of learning and to make positive personal adjustments.

When asked about what he loves most about his job, Dr Fagbemi said, "When I see a student heaves a sigh of relief with accomplishment and beam a smile after performing a competency or competencies of newly learned objectives; a sign that learning has taken place. Some students would unknowingly say to themselves "I have learned a lot today". This as a teacher gives me the inner joy that keeps me teaching."

Sharon Hain
Red Mountain High School,
Mesa, AZ

"Sharon Hain is one of those people who doesn't talk about doing things, she does them - consistently, each and every day," said fellow colleague Mary Martha Gingerella. "Her energy and zest for life and what she does is infectious and admired by all that meet her or work with her."

With over forty years of experience in the education field, Sharon Hain at Red Mountain High School in Mesa, AZ, is considered the "energizer bunny" - running circles around other faculty and students, as well as maintaining a constant enthusiasm for teaching.

"I love my job as much today as I did when I graduated from college and became a teacher," shares Ms. Hain. "I had always loved reading and writing and my English teachers, so I wanted to teach English. Near the end of my junior year in college, I decided that I liked my business courses more, so flipped my English major and Business minor around. I started out teaching shorthand and typing, and eventually, through a myriad of opportunities, evolved into teaching technology courses. I have taught high school, adult education, and community college. "

Ms. Hain is recognized for her eagerness to obtain knowledge, execution of the latest technology and suggestions for how to integrate it into the classroom in order to better engage students. "I have a Masters in Education with a slew of special courses taken throughout my CTE career," said Ms. Hain. "In technology education, one can never quit growing as a teacher and as a mentor, which means learning new things."

As a mentor, Ms. Hain supports her students in every area of their lives. She fosters a learning environment where students feel cared about, nurtured and safe, while encouraging them and holding them accountable.

"I love teaching the whole student through sharing life lessons -- teaching them to become proactive, life-long learners," explains Ms. Hain. "What skills I teach today will be obsolete in their lifetime so they need to learn how to learn. I personally have had to do that over the years because of change - my students will also need to be able to do that."

Ms. Hain has developed a program for refurbishing donated computers, allowing her students to have plenty of hands-on learning. She also uses this program to contribute to the community by placing refurbished computers in the homes of students in need. Available twenty-four hours a day, Ms. Hain is the sole help desk for over 150 teachers, students and parents.

"She's authentic, collaborative, and will buck the bureaucracy of district administration minutia that can some times impede what's best for students," adds Ms. Ginergerella. "She's the voice of the students when they themselves can't be present to do so!"

Sharon Willingham
Edgewood Junior/Senior High School
Merritt Island, FL

A career/technical teacher at Edgewood Junior/Senior High School in Merritt Island, FL, Sharon Willingham strives to help every student reach their full potential.

"I chose this career because my teachers and guidance counselors were a great influence in my life," said Ms. Willingham. "I also received a full 4-year scholarship to pursue my career in Business Education. I love the new path that Business Education has taken."

Over the years, Ms. Willingham has helped design the career classes as well as trained the other teachers. She is very devoted to her students and ensures that they are aware of all the opportunities that lie beyond high school. She works diligently with her students to ensure that they design meaningful plans to achieve their goals. As students write their self-directed EPEP, Ms. Willingham enhances classroom instruction with Bridges, FACTS.org, and other web programs, helping students to identify their interests, strengths, weaknesses, and align them with possible career choices.

"My students are very excited to learn of the possibilities that are available to them and to know that they can plan for them early," shared Ms. Willingham. "We really like steering away from "What I want to be when I grow up?" Our new phrase is "What are my major areas of interest? What are my capabilities? What are my strengths? And what makes ME happy?"

Always one to soar above the standards, prior to the state mandated career curriculum, Ms. Willingham received a grant for start-up funding to create career/college planning curriculum. Working with the Assistant Principal, Ms. Willingham led the project in addition to teaching her regular classes. Each grade level (7-12) received instruction and a career-related assignment that is stored in their student portfolio.

Going beyond the call of duty, Ms. Willingham gives her students everything she's got by working around the clock to ensure they are prepared with a well planned future. She designed the senior project which aligns with career/college planning, created the project manual, conducted meetings with students and parents, provided instruction and support to the students, and coordinated and obtained judges for senior presentation day. In addition, Ms. Willingham ensured every junior at Edgewood participated in career shadowing.

Her colleague, Dr. Neleffra A. Marshall says, "Ms. Willingham is an outstanding career-technical educator and we are very fortunate to have her at Edgewood. She is an example of what every Florida career-technical educator should strive to be"!

Finalists

With so many exceptional career-technical educators nominated, Bridges and Xap felt that it wasn't possible to list just four educators. Here are a few other amazing individuals that we wish to recognize. They are just a sample of the nominees who are all deserving of recognition for all the hard work they do for their students each and every day.