Thomas A. Fleming -- 1992 Michigan Teacher of the Year
As a Special Education teacher for over 20 years, since 1971 with the Washtenaw County Intermediate School District, Fleming helps children formulate a personal world view and a sense of belonging to the social environment in which they live. His early experiences as a Baptist minister actively involved him with the youth of Detroit's northwest neighborhoods and led to his interest in adolescents with special needs. He received a Master of Arts in Education with special education certification from Eastern Michigan University and first taught at the W.J. Maxey Boys Training School, a state institution for juvenile offenders. Fleming then served as an educational consultant with Project Follow Through for the High Scope Educational Research Foundation and joined the Washtenaw County Intermediate School District to teach in that county's juvenile detention school program in 1971. Five years later he assumed the role of coordinating teacher and continues in that capacity, in addition to his teaching responsibilities, to interact with a variety of supporting agencies including the police department, court staff, volunteers, and school district personnel. His students are from 12 to 16 years of age with third grade to college level ranges in academic performance. He works closely with Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan in the training of special education majors. "The student must be challenged to examine not only his knowledge, but his values. Young people today must be helped to formulate their own philosophy of life. To expect students to know what they believe and who they are is to relate to them as persons of integrity and value.
Marion Lipinski -- 1992 Ohio Teacher of the Year
Following graduation from Syracuse University she taught music at all levels and coached girls tennis and gymnastics in Beachwood, Ohio. In 1985 she joined the faculty of the Mentor public schools and now teaches a fifth grade classroom at the Center Street Village School. She obtained her Masters of Education from John Carroll University. "One of the finest educators I've encountered instilled this quote in the tapestry of my being, 'Education is no burden, get all that you can.' The educator was my mother, an immigrant with an eighth grade education, but a PhD in common sense knowledge, caring and working with people." Researching, developing and implementing curriculum allows her creativity to flourish. She is currently working on the implementation of two interdisciplinary teaching programs--a hands-on environmental impact study and a comprehensive study of the Civil War. She participates in many activities in the community including interpretation of religious services for the hearing impaired and the Forbes House for battered women and children. "I strive to open the minds of students to view life from many different perspectives. I work to prepare the total person for effectively handling the challenges of the 21st century."
Rosa E. Lujan -- 1992 Texas Teacher of the Year
Born to non-english speaking parents on a cotton farm on the outskirts of El Paso her early days in public school were filled with intriguing but incomprehensible sounds. As the eldest of eleven children she helped her brothers and sisters with their school work and when her parents applied for citizenship guided them in learning the english language. Education has always been her priority. "I did what had to be done to keep my goal of being a teacher clearly focused. It was a beacon of hope and promise for my future." Fighting against the odds she, with the love and care of her parents, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Education in 1972 and completed her masters in education in 1977. Lujan has been a bilingual educator in the Ysleta District of El Paso, Texas for over 17 years, the last two at the 5-6 level in the Ysleta Elementary School. Active as a teacher trainer in Cooperative Learning and Bilingual Education she continues to build her district's progressive status in the areas of Bilingual Education. Teachers from Texas and throughout the country have been sent to observe first had how cooperative learning impacts the academic, linguistic, and social development of her students. "What I have achieved is a result of all the sharing, mentoring, and encouragement others have generously given to me. I am but a mere reflection of the goodness in people who have touched my life. What an accomplishment if this cycle is perpetuated by the students I have touched."
Maria Azucena Vigil -- 1992 California Teacher of the Year
Vigil chose teaching as a career following her experiences as a volunteer in a Head Start class in her community. It was there that she saw students living her own childhood experiences. Vigil began school speaking only Spanish and living two separate lives in two different cultures. She loved both lives and a nurturing home environment instilled in her a love of learning. Following high school graduation she married and was soon a full-time mother of seven. At the age of 30 she went back to school to become an ESL (English as a second language) teacher. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of California at Irvine and she holds a Master of Arts in child development from Pepperdine University. She has developed a Bilingual/Bicultural Program for Instructional Television and has served as a trainer in Bilingual Education throughout Southern California. Since 1982 she has been full-time in the classroom and currently teaches Kindergarten at Las Lomas elementary School in La Habra, CA. "Children may be mischievous, passive, hyper-active, or inattentive due to biological or environmental factors, but I believe that a 'difficult' child is often the result of his or her experiences and ultimately the creation of an irresponsible adult in their world. My job is to show them that the larger world is not always like the one of their experience."
