FIVE OUTSTANDING TEACHERS SELECTED AS FINALISTS IN NATIONAL AWARDS COMPETITION

The search for the first Great American Teacher is well underway

ATLANTA (September 29, 2009) —The Ron Clark Academy, with assistance from a group of highly acclaimed educators from across the country, has narrowed its national search for phenomenal teachers for the first annual Great American Teacher Awards.   The five finalists are --Leslie Nicholas - A middle school language arts teacher from Kingston, PA, who after 27 years of teaching high school journalism, asked to be moved to the middle school in order to help raise slumping test scores.  Nicholas is a member of the National Teacher's Hall of Fame and was the Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year in 2004.  
 
Todd "Hoss" McNutt - A middle school and high school robotics teacher from Porterville, CA, whose students built prosthetic devices for a classmate who was born without hands.  His students also manufactured a wheel chair for a young boy with cerebral palsy, along with numerous other service oriented projects. 
 
Aimee Burgamy - A middle school art teacher from Lilburn, GA, who serves as the lead teacher for twenty-five middle school art teachers in Gwinnett County. Dr. Burgamy's room is filled with robots made from Coke cans, a colossal tree stump, kites, lanterns, pinwheels with flags from many nations, a reproduction of a Parisian gargoyle, an Egyptian pharaoh and loads of color.  Dr. Burgamy is the winner of the National Art Association's Jr. National Art Honor Society Sponsor of the Year award and was recently named as her District Teacher of the Year.
 
Terri Norwood - A primary school teacher from Los Angeles, CA, who creates songs about grammar, tap dances around the room, dresses up as numerous literary characters, and does whatever it takes to inspire her students.  Norwood started her own non-profit where she works with students on Saturdays in order to improve reading skills.
 
George Hademenos - A high school physics teacher from Richardson, TX, who left his job as a staff scientist with the American Heart Association in order to use his talents in the classroom.  Dr. Hademenos brings physics to life by using a bed of nails to teach surface pressure, a swinging bowling ball and SpongeBob dolls to teach gravity, and robotic rovers to teach about missions to space.  Over the past five years his students have had a 100% pass rate on the TAKS exam.

Using a pre-determined and standard rubric, a team of education leaders read and scored the applications, resulting in the selection of 20 semi-finalists, representing 10 different states across the U.S.  The applications of the semi-finalists were then culled to five finalists. 

“We received thousands of nominations and hundreds of applications representing school districts from across the country,” said Ron Clark, Disney’s 2000 American Teacher of the Year and founder of The Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta.  “We are very impressed by these five teachers, who are finding creative and innovative ways to educate and inspire their students.  Identifying a winner from this group will be a challenge; they’re all extremely strong candidates.”

The competition is far from over.  Prior to the big awards gala, which will be broadcast LIVE from Atlanta on Friday, October 23, 2009, Ron Clark will personally visit and observe each of the finalists in their hometown classrooms.  The five finalists will also be interviewed by Ron Clark, Kim Bearden (co-founder of the Ron Clark Academy and former Disney Award and Milken Educator recipient) and a panel of eight esteemed judges: Guy Doud, 1986 National Teacher of the Year from Minnesota; Gladys Graves, former Director of the North Carolina Teaching Fellows program; Dr. Diana Meehan, Co-founder of the Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles; Jean Savoy, former Teacher of the Year for the District of Columbia; Jeff Schultz, Western Regional Science Teacher of the Year; Jeff Wright, a high school principal in Chicago and member of the USA Today Teacher Team; Tom Maxey, President of Retirement Services Group, GAFRI, Inc.; and Mat Dutkiewicz, Vice President and General Manager of Retirement Services Group, GAFRI, Inc.  From the group of finalists, one teacher will be named the 2009 Great American Teacher of the Year during the awards gala on the evening of October 23^rd.

The five national finalists will receive the following: An all-expense paid round-trip to Atlanta for the finalist and a guest to attend the Ron Clark Academy’s National Educators’ Conference, October 23-25, 2009; special recognition at the Awards Gala on October 23rd; classroom resources and supplies, including a DELL 2100 Laptop in Ron Clark Academy blue; a class set of Promethean Activexpressions; a $1,000 honorarium; and media opportunities.

In addition to the prizes listed above, the Great American Teacher of the Year will receive a $10,000 cash award, a $5,000 cash gift to his/her school, a Promethean Active Board for his/her classroom, and a Complete Audio Enhancement System for his/her classroom.  The winner (in lieu of the DELL laptop) will receive a DELL Color-Laser printer for his/her classroom and a personalized DELL Tablet PC.

Sponsors of this event include Great American Financial Resources, Inc.; Verizon Wireless; Delta Air Lines, the preferred air line of The Ron Clark Academy; The Coca-Cola Company; Promethean; and DELL.  If you would like to attend the awards and join us in Atlanta as we celebrate education, please visit www.ronclarkacademy.com and click Great American Teacher Awards to buy tickets. A portion of ticket proceeds are tax deductible and will go towards scholarships for Ron Clark Academy students.

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About The Ron Clark AcademyThe Ron Clark Academy is a private, nonprofit SACS CASI accredited middle school in Southeast Atlanta that promotes innovation and inspires its students through energetic teaching balanced by a strict code of discipline.  Each year, 3,000 educators from around the world visit the Academy to learn how to replicate the school’s style, philosophy and success in their own classrooms.  The Academy currently relies on outside funding to provide scholarships to students from varying academic backgrounds.  

For More Information Contact:Staci Lynch

lynch@ronclarkacademy.com

678-651-2102