Rep. Dennis M. O’Brien
Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Contact: Jeanne H. Schmedlen
Director of Special Projects and Chief of Protocol
(717) 705-1894
Christopher Stets
(717) 787-3002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2, 2008
O’Brien Announces 2008 Speaker’s Golden Apple Award Winners
Six schools take honors for best practices in the arts and humanities,
sciences, applied studies, parental involvement and leadership
HARRISBURG – Speaker of the House Dennis M. O’Brien today announced the 2008 winners of the Speaker’s Golden Apple Awards for Education Innovation. The program is designed to highlight and recognize unique and groundbreaking education programs in Pennsylvania’s public schools.
“The educators and administrators we recognize through the awards care deeply about the future of their students. They demonstrated a commitment to excellence in education and achieved great results,” O’Brien said.
The winners of the 2008 Speaker’s Golden Apple Awards are:
Award categories may be modified or added each year and links to the top programs will be listed on www.goldenappleawards.com for schools across the state and nation to view and learn from.
The schools will receive their awards at a ceremony in the Capitol on June 9. Parents, students, administrators and faculty from the six winning Golden Apple schools, as well
as members of the Golden Apple Advisory Committee, will attend the ceremony at which O’Brien will present each winning school with a 14-inch trophy of three books with a golden apple on top, as well as banners commemorating their achievement. The trophies and banners will be displayed at the winning schools.
The awards are the first of their kind established by a state Speaker of the House. Any Pennsylvania public school, school district, area vocational-technical school, charter school or intermediate unit seeking to recognize a program in any of the categories areas is eligible to apply or nominate.
Teachers, parents, school board members, administrators and private citizens nominated programs they believe are outstanding and worthy of being shared across the state. Review panels composed of experts in the award categories initially reviewed and scored all nominations and selected a winner in each category.
The Speaker’s Golden Apple Advisory Committee, headed by Rep. James R. Roebuck Jr. (D-Philadelphia), chairman of the House Education Committee, and made up of other education, business and community leaders, established the 2008 program categories, guidelines and requirements.
Nomination forms for the 2009 Speaker’s Golden Apple Awards will be available online late this summer. For more information about the Speaker’s Golden Apple Awards for Education Innovation, including complete eligibility requirements and a list of advisory committee members, visit www.goldenappleawards.com.
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