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Board of Education → Distinguished Service Awards → Winners → 1997

Distinguished Service Award Winners: 1997

Business

Marriott Suites of Bethesda

Contributes time and expertise to the Hotel/Travel program at Thomas Edison High School of Technology. This program serves all 21 MCPS high schools. For the past several years, Marriott Suites of Bethesda has provided an on-site internship for the entire class. Personnel from a variety of Marriott departments conducted workshops, helped train students for the student-operated Thomas Edison Cafÿ, and conducted job interviews. On-the-job training opportunities, year-long internships and full and part-time jobs were also provided. The Marriott Suites of Bethesda, by its contribution of time, expertise, and use of facilities makes it possible for Hotel/Travel students to have a real-world experience that would not otherwise be possible.

General Electric Information Services and Elfun Society

Developed the "Teach the Teacher" computer course for MCPS teachers. To date, three different courses have been developed and teams of Elfun members have taught approximately 80 different classes to more than 1,100 MCPS employees. GEIS is also a partner in the Adopt-A-School program and has donated hundreds of hours of community service to students as well as donated computer software and more than 300 used computers to MCPS. GEIS has also sponsored student awards for the MCPS Career and Technology annual awards program.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Provides extensive research experiences to enhance the general scientific literacy of students. Their initiatives include supporting teachers who spend their summers in molecular biology and chemistry courses and the Student and Teacher Intern Program which provides the opportunity for extensive hands-on research experiences through the laboratories of the National Institutes of Health. Other projects with MCPS include the Audubon Naturalist Society and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has made significant financial grants to the MCPS Education Foundation and over the past few years has donated more than two million dollars in computers and office furniture.

Community Individual

I. Austin Heyman

Was the founder and director (1986-1997) of Interages, a highly innovative nonprofit organization that seeks to stimulate mutually beneficial exchanges among people of different generations. Over 18,000 elders and youths have participated in a variety of programs, and more than 1,000 people have attended and learned from Interages° conferences and workshops. Through Mr. Heyman°s leadership, Interages sought to broaden participation of older adults in the public schools, provide the elderly with a positive view of schools, provide direct educational benefits to children through its programs, provide a healthy view of aging to young people, facilitate community service for youth that will benefit the elderly, and leverage its dollars to benefit children and youth.

Hugh Packard

An officer with the Montgomery County Department of Police, Packard has worked for the past nine years with thirty elementary schools and over 1,000 safety patrols in the Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Potomac and Kensington areas. Each summer he directs the summer patrol leadership camp for 500 safety patrols and supervises twenty-six adult crossing guards and works closely with the MCPS Transportation Department. Officer Packard and his daughter have both testified before the State Education Committee as advocates for the benefits to students of service learning requirements.

Community Group

The George B. Thomas, Sr. Learning Academy, Inc.

Was established in 1986 by the Mu Nu Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity as an outgrowth of the Saturday School Initiative of Blacks United for Excellence in Education. The Academy provides tutoring and mentoring designed to enhance academic and social adjustment for African-American students in Grades 1-12. In addition to the existing Olney-Sandy Spring Center, another center was opened in 1996 to service the Colesville-Silver Spring area.

The American Coalition for Assistance and Mentoring Program (ACAMP)

Began in 1988 in the Chinese-American community. ACAMP provides bilingual tutoring for MCPS students with language difficulty and those whose native language is not English. The program has now expanded to include over 20 ethnic groups and has served more than 1,500 students and hundreds of parents in promoting academic excellence, volunteerism, team spirit and unity in diversity and active parent involvement.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Has provided MCPS with a laboratory of learning experiences that span decades. These include biology workshops for biology and chemistry teachers; development of a speakers bureau as a community resource; development of the Sobel program to bring outstanding students to NIH for summer experiences; the Science Connections Project; development of the K-12 curriculum supplements for the Office of Science Education; the development and testing of the Science Health Curriculum On-Line; and the extremely successful partnership in the training of teachers and students on the NIH campus.

Individual Pioneer

Lucille Maurer (awarded posthumously)

Devoted much of her life to a career in public service. For nearly forty years she promoted integration, excellence in educational leadership and programs, fairness in the allocation of funds based on need, and provided leadership in expressing the importance of education in the county and state. Mrs. Maurer served as a member of the Montgomery County Board of Education from 1960 to 1968, as a member of the House of Delegates from 1969 to 1987, and as State Treasurer from 1987 until her death in 1996. As a member of the Board of Education at a time when Montgomery County was still struggling to implement desegregation, she was steadfast in her determination to ensure than there was complete commitment on the Board to full integration and equal services to all. During her years in Annapolis, Mrs. Maurer was an indefatigable supporter of increased State funding for education and a leader in the development of the State°s commitment to a fair education funding formula.

Roscoe R. Nix

Has provided distinguished leadership in public education in Montgomery County for decades. He served on the Montgomery County Board of Education from 1974 to 1978, being only the second African American to win election. He sought improved educational opportunities and early childhood initiatives to support increased local resources for Head Start, Title I and lower class size in the elementary grades. He strenuously opposed efforts to eliminate the then recently begun magnet schools aimed at integration. Mr. Nix also served as president of the Montgomery County Branch NAACP from 1980 to 1990, where he led coalitions of community groups and individuals in initiatives that led to a reinvigorated effort to strengthen and integrate schools. During his NAACP tenure, he conceived the idea and was instrumental in creating the African American Festival of Academic Excellence, which celebrates academic achievements of African-American students.

Gerald F. Consuegra

Has long served as an inspiring symbol of unity and trust whose vision and motivating qualities will help lead MCPS successfully into the twenty-first century. He has made and continues to make significant contributions to the development and implementation of MCPS elementary and secondary science programs. In addition, he created and awarded two major National Science Foundation (NSF) grants and served as NSF project director from 1991 to 1993. Dr. Consuegra serves as a role model for educators throughout the county, state, and nation. Because Dr. Consuegra recently wrote and received another NSF grant, secondary science teachers will be trained, curriculum will be revised and developed, and even more students will benefit from his vision and leadership.

MCPS Staff

Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

Has made significant contributions in knowledge, talent, time and service to a wide variety of departments in MCPS. He is a technology expert who has in many ways demonstrated the role of instructional media in enriching the curriculum. For the past seven years, he has entertained students, families, and teachers at the annual ESOL Awards Program as magician "Narvaez the Great." He has also presented multimedia workshops, which have been the highlight of a number of conferences. As an adjunct instructor at the University of Maryland at College Park, Mr. Narvaez completely re-designed four educational technology workshops required of graduate students in the School Media Program. He has taught these and other graduate-level courses each semester for over ten years and has had a profound impact on those students who carried away with them an enthusiasm for how effective instructional media can be in the curriculum.

Juanita L. Sweadner

Has had a sustained impact on the school system and community-at-large for 23 years. She has demonstrated unsurpassed dedication and knowledge and a high standard of loyalty, teamwork and responsiveness to constituents throughout her years as secretary to four MCPS superintendents. Considering the demands from local and state officials, international visitors, other school systems, business partners, community leaders, employee associations, news media, local school PTA groups, student activities and employees, scheduling the superintendent and executive staff would be described as "Mission Impossible" without Mrs. Sweadner°s organizational skills. Mrs. Sweadner sets the standard for all other offices and units. Her collaborative style, team approach, loyalty to the school system, and excellent rapport with others all contribute to the role modeling high expectations for others to follow.

Updated June 29, 2006 |