ALPHA DELTA KAPPA DECEMBER 2010 - Gedung Kuning

Educational Excellence in Action
Educational Excellence in Action
California Beta Upsilon Chapter MeMBer reCeives national WoMen in
histor y honor
Pat Pyle, California Beta Upsilon Chapter, is a history teacher at Deer Valley High School in
Contra Costa County. She was one of 25 outstanding national women educators recognized for
her classroom curriculum, which includes the struggles and triumphs of women in the history of
the United States. Pat was invited to attend the 30th Anniversary of Women in History luncheon
celebration held in the Statutory Hall of Congress in Washington, D.C. March 25, 2010. The
event was hosted by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke
at the luncheon.
The Women in History Project started in the northern California town of Santa Rosa. Pat got
involved with the project in 1980 when she attended a training session presented by the project’s
creator, Molly McGregor. Pat has incorporated women’s history as part of her curriculum for the
past 30 years. While in Washington, D.C. Pat met Congressman John Lewis, a civil rights leader
for the Freedom Riders; Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi; Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey
from Santa Rosa; and Congresswoman Barbara Lee from Oakland, who is the granddaughter of
C.J. Walker, the first African-American millionaire entrepreneur.
This was not Pat’s first trip to the Capitol. She has also organized and chaperoned 12 visits
with her high school students to Washington, D.C., Boston, New York and Philadelphia over
the past 29 years. She has long been recognized by the local educational community for her
contributions towards excellence in education, earning Antioch’s “Teacher of the Year Award”
in 1998. She joined California Beta Upsilon Chapter in 1989, served as 2008-2010 chapter president
and serves on the chapter’s Scholarship Committee each year.
texas state exCellenCe in edUCation reCipient honored at state
Educational Excellence in Action
Pat Pyle
Convention
Bettye Herrington Craddock, Texas Theta Chapter, received the 2010 Texas State Excellence
in Education Award at the state convention. Proud to be a third generation Texas teacher, she said she considers
teaching to be a special calling, one she has passed to both her children. “Besides
being a wife and mother, teaching is all I ever wanted,” she said. She participates
in professional development activities every year, providing her students with the
latest techniques and technologies.
Bettye considers the accomplishments of her students to be the highlight of
her 26 years as advisor to The Flare, the weekly newspaper at Kilgore College.
The Flare has won Sweepstakes, the highest Texas Community College Journalism
Association (TCCJA) award 20 of the last 22 years and the highest Texas Intercollegiate
Press Association (TIPA) award 18 of the last 22 years. Her students
have received more than 1,000 individual awards. Last fall, the Bettye Herrington
Craddock Journalism Center at Kilgore College was named in her honor.
Among her most prestigious honors are a 1996 NISOD Excellence in Teaching
Award, and a 1998 Minnie Stevens Piper Award, given to only 10 of more than
60,000 eligible Texas educators. She was one of 12 women honored as Stars over
Longview for their contributions to the community in 2006. The 1994 TIPA Advisor
of the Year award, for which her students secretly nominated her, is one of
Bettye’s most treasured honors.
Bettye is a popular speaker for civic groups. She is the author of a book,
many educational handbooks and manuals, numerous newsletters, newspaper
articles, feature stories and press releases for school, church and community
groups, including ADK. She has served as a chapter officer for several of her 15
years as an ADK member.
Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton
Texas Excellence in Education
Chairman Connie Hetzer presents the
Texas State Excellence in Education
Award to Bettye Craddock.
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