CHAMBER NAMES EDUCATORS OF YEAR

Three Cape Girardeau educators have been honored as 1995 Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce Educators of the Year.

Honorees are Darla Snider, elementary; Judy Holshouser, vocational education; and Robert Hartmann, administration.

The award program, sponsored by the chamber's education committee, began last year.

Snider is a third-grade teacher at Washington Elementary School. She has taught 20 years.

"The first responsibility of teachers who sincerely want to help children grow to their fullest capacity is to try to understand children's needs and patterns of growth and the individual needs of each particular child," she said in her application.

Holshouser is a counselor for guidance and placement at the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School. She has been in education 24 years.

"I believe it is my responsibility to assist each student in understanding what current and long-term choices or options might be available to them to enhance the quality of life," she said in her application. "I believe it is my privilege to assist students in understanding and recognizing the rewards-ramifications of their choices and to challenge them to make productive decisions."

Hartmann has been principal at Trinity Lutheran School for 25 years and has worked in education 41 years.

"If an individual begins to assume a comfortable position regarding the process of teaching, the individual should be alerted to the possibility that growth has diminished," he said in his application. "As an educator it should always be my task to seek ways to carry out the responsibilities of teaching in a better way tomorrow than was done today. Those in leadership roles must challenge themselves and those that they lead to be creative in their approach to teaching."

Kathy Swan, chairman of the chamber's education committee, said the awards are designed to foster a better relationship between business and education.

The Educators of the Year Awards Dinner will be May 4 at the Holiday Inn. Honorees will receive special recognition and a $250 cash award. Dinner reservations are available by contacting Linda Minner, Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, at 335-3312.

Sponsors for the cash awards are KBSI Fox TV, KFVS-TV, and Kohlfeld Distributing.

Last year's winners were Carol Reimann, elementary education; Tammy Sue Brotherton, secondary education; Joseph "Bud" Thompson, vocational education; Marjorie Engleman, special education; and Sister Mary Ann Fischer, administration.

This year applications were received in three categories.