Educators of year named by chamber

CRYSTAL APPLE WINNERS

By Heather Kronmueller ~ Southeast Missourian

A librarian, a principal, a physical education teacher and an administrator in the Cape Girardeau public school system were chosen as the 2002 Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce Educators of the Year.

Julia Jorgensen, Gerald Richards, Annette Slattery and Betty Chong were named as the elementary and secondary educators and Jim Dufek, a professor at Southeast Missouri State University, was named the post-secondary educator of the year.

Each year, for the past nine years, four elementary and secondary educators and one post-secondary educator have been honored as educators of the year by the chamber.

Recipients receive $500, the prestigious crystal apple award and a commemorative video at a banquet held in their honor every spring. The banquet for the 2002 award winners will be May 2 at the Drury Lodge.

Jorgensen has been the librarian at Central High School since 1999. She began her career in education at the North Kansas City School District in 1972. From 1985 to 1999 she was a kindergarten aide at May Greene School.

Richards has been the principal at Central Junior High School since 1994. He began his education career in 1965 as a teacher of math and social sciences at Fox High School in St. Louis.

He came to the Cape Girardeau school system in 1967 as a math teacher. In 1974 he took a position in the district as a counselor, which he kept until 1987 when he became the assistant principal at the junior high.

Richards will retire from the district at the end of the school year.

Slattery started her career in physical education in 1976 in Kennett, Mo., and continues to teach the subject at Central High School. Aside from teaching, Slattery has coached tennis for 23 years, track for 10 years and softball for one year.

Chong has been the assistant superintendent for special services in the Cape Girardeau School District since 1997. She began her teaching career in 1977 at Franklin Elementary School. From 1983 to 1988 she held the position of counselor at Alma Schrader and Washington elementary schools and from 1988 to 1990 she worked as educational coordinator and psychological examiner for the district.

Chong was the assistant director of special services from 1990 to 1991. In 1991 she became the director of special services, a position she held until 1997.

Dufek has been a professor in the mass communication department at Southeast Missouri State University since 1983. He began teaching in 1982 at the University of South Dakota.

Each of the educators will receive recognition today at the Chamber of Commerce First Friday Coffee event at the Show Me Center.

hkronmueller@semissourian.com

335-6611 extension 128