MSTA EDUCATOR AWARDS ANNOUNCED

Winners of the Missouri State Teachers Association Meritorious Service and Community Teachers Association Leaders of the Year awards were announced during a banquet Thursday night.

Larry Nickell, Anna Crawford, Mary Wilhite, Martha Short, Ruthie Davis and Gene Brunkhorst, all were honored for superior contributions to education and MSTA during the event, held in the University Center Ballroom at Southeast Missouri State University.

Carolyn Harris, Pamela Ferrell and Debra Lusk also were recognized as the outstanding CTA leaders for the year.

Each year, MSTA delegates from local chapters sponsor a banquet to honor selected educators. A business meeting also is held to elect officers and consider resolutions for the state meeting.

The event is a precursor to the MSTA district teachers meeting that begins at 9 a.m today at Academic Hall.

Larry Nickell, a Sikeston native who has worked in Sikeston public schools for 31 years, was one of six Meritorious Service award winners. Nickell, principal at Sikeston High School, has been an MSTA member for all of his 33 years in education.

Anna Crawford, a 28-year teaching veteran, also was a Meritorious Service honoree. She has been active in MSTA and CTA 27 years in Charleston, where she team teaches at Warren E. Hearnes Elementary School.

Also receiving the Meritorious Service award was Mary Wilhite, a recent retiree from the Cape Girardeau School District. Wilhite taught the bulk of her 31 years at Louis J. Schultz School in Cape Girardeau and had served on local and regional MSTA committees.

Martha Short, a fifth-grade teacher at North Elementary School in Jackson, also received the Meritorious Service award. Short has spent her career in Jackson schools and has worked on local, regional and state levels in MSTA and CTA. She is on a year's leave of absence to serve as a STARR (Select Teachers as Regional Resources) teacher for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Ruthie Davis, a Greenville School District educator since 1966, also was an award recipient. She graduated from the district's high school and later worked as an elementary school teacher, parent educator and grant writer, among other roles. She is director of federal programs for Greenville schools.

Gene Brunkhorst, Southeast Missouri State University coordinator of student teaching, was the sixth Meritorious Service honoree. He is completing his 35th year in public education and has taught on the high school and college levels. He has served under 16 district presidents as the secretary-treasurer for the southeast MSTA district.