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CFES.org > News And Events > Press Releases > Excellence in Education

Excellence in Education
November 16, 2007

Stephen Decatur High School Principal Lou Taylor is presented with the Community Foundation's Educational Leadership Award for 2007 by Art Cooley, Foundation Board Chair.

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION AWARDS $45,000

IN EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION GRANTS

Sixteen programs at Lower Shore schools

receive funding

The Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore during National Education Week honored schools and educators in Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester Counties with $45,000 in grants through the Foundation’s 2007 Excellence in Education Program.

Excellence In Education Awards are made annually through a competitive process to public and private schools on the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland. Grants are made to those schools that have demonstrated through innovative programs a particularly meritorious concern for their students and communities.

“This awards program is the Community Foundation’s principle vehicle for recognizing and rewarding those schools that in a given year are engaged in making a particularly creative contribution to the education of our children,” said Art Cooley, Foundation Board Chair. “These awards recognize truly remarkable things our dedicated teachers and school administrators are accomplishing,” he added.

Calcott Award of Excellence

The Community Foundation honored the Carter G. Woodson Elementary School in Somerset County with the Third Annual Mary Gay Calcott Award of Excellence. The award is presented to the most creative education program submitted for a 2007 Excellence In Education Award. In addition to the Calcott Award the Woodson Elementary also received $1,000 from the Foundation to benefit the school.

The award is named for the late Mary Gay Calcott, a professor of English at Salisbury University whose life embodied her teaching ideals of liberal education; teaching students to think, to express themselves with clarity and to care about the world they live in.

Educational Leadership Award

Louis H. Taylor, principal at Stephen Decatur High School in Worcester County received the Second Annual Educational Leadership Award. The purpose of this award is to recognize local educational administrators who go above and beyond for their students, school and community. The Foundation also presented Taylor with a $1,000 award to be used for the benefit of students at Stephen Decatur High School.

Dr. Spicer Bell, President of the Foundation, noted that during Taylor’s leadership of Stephen Decatur that the student body has increased from 800 to over 1,400, making it the largest high school on the Eastern Shore. Bell added, “Through what Lou calls the Decatur Way, he challenges himself, his staff and students to meet the highest standards. Lou Taylor works tirelessly to make sure that each student’s high school experience will prepare and propel them into becoming successful adults.”

The following schools received Excellence In Education Awards for 2007 during ceremonies held at the Community Foundation’s Eastern Shore Nonprofit Resource Center in Salisbury:

In Wicomico County:

Glen Avenue School – Glen Avenue Leadership Society provides an after-school program that meets once per week to focus on personal and character development, arts and culture, art history, dance, science and community service.

Maple Shade School – A program titled “I’ll Take Successful Students for $500, Alex” takes a look at how cross-curricular instruction, community involvement and incremental rewards improve student work completion, participation and performance.

Pemberton Elementary – Becoming Stakeholders in Preserving Local History allows fourth graders to use technology to research, record and create new interactive stations for students and visitors at the historic Rockawalkin School.

Prince Street Elementary – The Step Team program allows 40 students in grades 4-8 to participate in weekly after-school activities that carry through to Bennett Middle School. The program helps students make the transition from elementary to middle school a smooth one.

The Salisbury School – Kurzweil 3000, a multi-sensory program, assist students who have been identified as dyslexic or dysgraphic in writing essays, constructing study guides and reading test materials.

Wicomico Middle – A Reading Intervention Program works with struggling readers in 6^th Grade to help them by providing hands-on opportunities to use technology and learn reading by interacting with text.

Willards Elementary – Exploring the Cultural Diversity of the United States through Traditional Dance is provided through a residency program by the Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, a professional dance troupe.

In Somerset County:

Carter G. Woodson Elementary – Two awards: (1) students explore the skills necessary for different careers; and (2) students successfully promote a safe and caring school through a school-wide program by learning stronger communication skills and self-esteem.

Deal Island Elementary – A program helps to enrich the school’s curriculum in the areas of Technology, Science Mathematics, Geography and Social Studies through partnerships in education.

Princess Anne Elementary – The Princess Anne STARS Program provides after school tutorial and enrichment programs to students in kindergarten through second grade who need additional support in reading and math skills.

Somerset County Public Schools – An educational program called “Teackletonia” enables 176 fourth graders to experience a different time and culture by taking on the roles of people who lived or worked in Somerset County in 1820.

Tawes Technology and Career Center – Skills USA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry representatives that work together to prepare the next generation as America’s skilled labor force.

In Worcester County:

Ocean City Elementary – A Mentoring Program matches students in grades K-4 with adult mentors for the purpose of providing positive role models, positive social interaction and educational support and encouragement.

Pocomoke Middle – Math Minds Un-Masked unveils the mystery behind real life math situations and provides hands-on opportunities to better understand math concepts.

Snow Hill Middle – Greater Expectations Mentoring Program includes law enforcement officers, teachers and community members of varied backgrounds to provide students ages 9-13 with mentor training to promote a safe, fun learning environment through parent involvement and out-of-school activities.

Worcester Career and Technology Center – The Healthcare Careers Academy is a program that partners health occupation students in grades 11 and 12 with healthcare professionals from Atlantic General Health System giving the students opportunities to participate in internship experiences in various health related careers.