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Demands on F.I.S.H. on the rise
Housing market
getting tighter
New life,
national recognition, for an old building
Teacher
nets $25,000
award in dramatic fashion |
NHS drama instructor Drea Ferguson is surprised
with the award at an assembly Friday morning |
By Schellen Clendenin, Newberg
Graphic reporter
E-mail Schellene at sclendenin@eaglenewspapers.com
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She suspected something was up when people kept mentioning the
award-winning drama program at Newberg High School.
“They never talked about drama before,” said a still flustered Drea
Ferguson. The longtime NHS drama director had just been presented a check for $25,000 by
the Milken Family Foundation.
Before an assembly of hundreds of students, teachers, parents and
administrators, state School Superintendent Susan Castillo presented the award stating
that teaching was one-quarter good teaching and three-quarters good theater.
The ground shook as students gave Ferguson a standing ovation. The drama
teacher blew kisses to the crowd and brushed tears from her eyes.
“I don’t know what to think,” she said. “Thank you guys
from the bottom of my heart.”
Now “Fergie,” as her students call her, must prepare for what
Milken representative Dr. Tamara Schiff described as the “Oscars of Teaching.”
“I’ve got to buy a frock,” Ferguson said, laughing.
“I’ll go on Ebay and look.”
Congratulations and hugs from parents and students surrounded Ferguson, who
said she plans on spending the money on her students somehow.
She said there would have been no award without her students, who consider
her a role model.
“They are amazing kids, an inspiration,” she said.
The Milken National Educational Award is distributed annually to 200 teachers
nationwide.
The money, after Ferguson receives it at an all-expense paid national
educational conference in California next spring, can be spent on anything.
For example, teachers who have been awarded the money in the past have used
it to pay for their own children’s educations, further their own, help buy supplies
for the school and in one case, financed the adoption of a child.
Oregon is one of 47 states participating in the Milken award, which has
distributed more than $1.5 million to 612 Oregon educators.
Jennifer Pareneau, whose daughter was enrolled in Ferguson’s class, saw
some of the work she was doing with students and recommended her for the award.
Pareneau works for the Department of Education in Salem and had heard
about the award through her office and decided to nominate the drama teacher for the award
when she saw how she worked with students, helping them gain confidence and poise through
the class.
An independent panel appointed by each states department of education chooses
the recipients of the awards.
The awards were established by Lowell Milken, co-founder of the Milken Family
Foundation in 1985, to help attract and retain high caliber teachers. |
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From Oct. 18,
2003, Newberg Graphic
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