Student Awards
2008 Student Awards and Scholarship Winners
Congratulations to our 2008 winners!
2009 CEC Student Awards and Scholarships
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2008 Susan Phillips Gorin Award
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Dr. Cynthia Simpson |
Dr. Cynthia Simpson serves as the Coordinator of the
Special Education Program at Sam Houston State University, where she
facilitated the addition of a new M.A. program in Low Incidence
Disabilities and Autism and the proposal of a new doctoral program in
Special Education. Dr. Simpson is the faculty advisor to the Sam
Houston State University CEC Student Chapter. The chapter’s 2008
conference had more than 400 attendees and the keynote speaker was Dr.
Temple Grandin, an internationally recognized advocate for individuals
with autism. Dr. Simpson is active in several state educational
associations, in addition to being a community service leader.
2008 Outstanding Undergraduate Student Member
of the Year Award
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Elizabeth Turnage |
Elizabeth Turnage has served as the president of the
Cleveland State University CEC Student Chapter. She was instrumental in
writing grants funded by more than $7,000 to support chapter activities.
Elizabeth presented at the university’s campus-wide program, The
Common Reading Experience, and spoke about her son, Paul, and his
challenges as a student with autism. Elizabeth tutors children with
disabilities and provides respite time for a mother of children with
special needs. She also volunteers for the Chesterland Squadron Civil
Air Patrol and helped establish an inclusive Sunday School classroom for
students with moderate to severe disabilities.
2008 Outstanding Graduate Student Member of the
Year Award
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Annmarie Urso |
Annmarie Urso has served as the student
representative on the CEC Representative Assembly and on the Standing
Committee on Students. She is also the student representative on the CEC
Nominations Committee and a member of the University of Arizona Chapter.
In her years as a teacher, Annmarie has continued to contribute to
children with exceptionalities through research efforts, service to
schools, and training of future educators. She is the co-founder and
member of the Board of Directors of Pen Pals Across the Water, an
international pen pal project for children who are chronically ill.
2008 Undergraduate Graduation Award
Kindra Baan Hofman is a student at Dakota State
University. She has been involved in CEC, the South Dakota Education
Association, Kappa Sigma Iota, and Children’s Care Hospital and
School . . . just to name a few. Kindra started an after-school tutoring
program for children in the community, organized a “Dr. Seuss
Night” for over 150 students, and was an America Reads/America
Counts tutor. For the last three years, Kindra has tutored a 26-year-old
man with Down Syndrome. She worked with faculty members on research
projects and presented her findings during the state legislative session
in Pierre, S.D.
2008 Graduate Graduation Award
Cheryl Sowers served as vice president of the
California State University-Bakersfield CEC student chapter. Next year,
Cheryl will be teaching a high-functioning class of junior high students
with autism. Her paper for her Master’s exam was on researched
best practices for improving reading skills and comprehension with
students with moderate to serve exceptionalities. Cheryl traveled this
summer to Romania to work with children with autism in the
country’s only rehabilitation center. She was selected by the
faculty of the Department of Special Education at California State
University-Bakersfield as the 2007 Outstanding Special Education
Student.
2008 Kayte M. Fearn CEC Ethnic Diversity
Scholarship
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Erika Forster |
Erika Forster is completing her pre-doctoral
internship at the University of British Columbia as a school
psychologist with special interest in services to students who are blind
or visually impaired and students who are both deaf and blind. Erika
re-established the university’s CEC student chapter and served as
its president. She was a member of the CEC Standing Committee on
Students, CEC Student Transition Work Group, CEC U.S./Canada Work Group,
and is Student Representative for CEC’s Division on Visual
Impairments. Erika was the 2007–2008 recipient of the Dean of
Education Scholarship in the Faculty of Education of the University of
British Columbia.
2009 CEC Student Awards and Scholarships
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There are four awards and one scholarship for CEC student members and
one award for a CEC professional member available annually. The winners
will be recognized at an awards ceremony during the CEC Annual
Convention and Expo in Seattle, Wash., as well as in CEC Today
and on the CEC Web site. Winners will also receive a certificate or
plaque of recognition from CEC.
The 2009 awards and scholarship competition will soon be announced in
the Student section of the CEC Web site. The deadline for applications
for the 2009 CEC student awards is Nov. 7, 2008.
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