JACKSON NAMES TOP EDUCATORS

JACKSON -- Three teachers in the Jackson School District have been named 1997 Educators of the Year by the Jackson Chamber of Commerce.

Andrea Sachse was recognized in the elementary school division, Marilyn Jansen in the middle and junior high school division, and Sonja Davis in the high school division. The teachers have a combined 62 years of experience in education.

"This is the first year we've done this in Jackson," said Mindy Pulley, chairperson of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce Educator of the Year Committee. "We had some good, quality teachers nominated and these winners stood out."

Each of the teachers considered for the awards was nominated by someone who felt they had provided outstanding service to the students in the district. Each nominee was then sent an application to fill out and return to the judging committee.

Andrea Sachse has worked for 23 years in the school district. She was hired in 1974 to organize a program for students with learning disabilities. Two years later she organized a program for students with mental retardation. In 1985 she took on her present role as a fifth-grade teacher. She is married and has three children.

"I feel the most important idea I have always tried to portray and impress upon my students was to try one's very best and settle for nothing less," Sachse wrote on her application.

Marilyn Jansen taught for 10 years before going to work in the Jackson School District in 1987 as the geometry and applied math teacher for junior high students. In 1988 she added consumer math, pre-algebra and algebra, and geometry to her list of classes. She is married and has one child.

"One of my objectives in my classes is to teach so that my students will learn how to study, how to become good problem-solvers and how to use this in future classes as well as in life," wrote Jansen.

High school teacher Sonja Davis has 23 years of teaching experience, 17 of them in the Jackson School District. Since 1980, she has taught all of the various language arts courses offered for students at the high school. She is married and has four children.

"If I were to identify one skill for teacher success, I would name flexibility: The willingness to adapt a schedule to meet an individual student's needs," Davis wrote.

Pulley said each winner will receive a $200 cash gift and two nights lodging at a Drury Inn hotel, courtesy of Drury Inns Inc. and the Jackson Chamber of Commerce. They will also receive the Crystal Apple Award and be recognized at a banquet on April 24.