United Way presents its Red Apple awards
BUTLER TWP — The United Way of Butler County Wednesday held its annual breakfast at Butler County Community College.
Presented at the event were the Red Apple awards, which are given to an educator at each public school district, Butler County Vocational-Technical School, Butler County Community College and Slippery Rock University.
Here are the recipients.
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Grace Henry, Butler School District — Henry teaches senior math at the high school. She received her master's degree at Indiana (Pa.) University and has been teaching in some facet since 1972. She is a member of the IUP Mathematics Honorary, Kappa Mu Epsilon, and the IUP Educational Honorary, Kappa Phi Delta. She is a member of the National, Pennsylvania, and Butler Educational Associations and is an institutional member of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.•
Megan Slaughenhoup, Karns City School District — Slaughenhoup is an eighth grade language arts teacher at the high school. She is a recipient of the National Council of Teachers of English Prentice-Hall Pearson Leadership Award. She is chairwoman of the English department and served as a planning team member on the Act 48 Committee and as a member of the Karns City Educational Association's representative council, the Stand Tall program, and is a faculty sponsor to the Bella Verita girls' self-esteem and empowerment weekend retreat. She is Powder Puff Football faculty sponsor, and she was previously a faculty sponsor of a peer leadership weekend retreat. She is a leader of the weekly children's sermon as a member of the First Presbyterian Church of East Brady.•
Michael Fugh, Mars School District — Fugh is a fourth-grade teacher at Mars Elementary School. He has taught for 10 years and is a lifelong resident of Butler County. Fugh served as a mentor teacher for new teachers and has been a PTO liaison for the past seven years. He helps his colleagues learn new classroom technologies, such as the Promethean Board. He has served on committees for new textbook and report card adoption, and he tutors sick students who cannot attend school for extended periods of time. Fugh volunteered with Punt, Pass and Kick for the past eight years. He helps with after-school intramural programs at the YMCA and coached junior varsity hockey. He helps raise money for needy families, and for seven years he has helped develop and operate Pittsburgh Parent Summer Activities and Camp Expo.•
Susan Scialabba, Moniteau School District — Scialabba is a physical education teacher at Dassa McKinney Elementary School in the Moniteau School District. She has been teaching for 17 years. She gave students pedometers and created a chart for them to record their daily steps and track the distances they walked in a day. Annual track and field days are conducted for all grades with Scialabba's help. As a PTO fundraiser, she was a "McTeacher Night" worker, and she is a Slippery Rock University Field Student Mentor. She coaches high school girls track, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, and girls basketball, as well as organizing three-on-three basketball tournaments. She encourages her athletes to participate in the Butler Road Race and is the school's coordinator for "Jump Rope for Heart." At Christmas, she volunteers with the Salvation Army to help with local collections.•
Allison Ricci Stebbins, Seneca Valley School District — Stebbins is a fifth grade gifted education teacher at Haine Middle School in the Seneca Valley School District. She has been teaching for more than 10 years and has lived in Cranberry Township since 1974. Stebbins and her students' Rainkeepers and Rain Barrel Project won an award. Stebbins organized basket raffles and coin drives to help purchase rain barrels. She holds an annual community and environmental awareness session each spring at the township's municipal building called "Rainkeepers" which aims to expand recycling throughout the community and promotes the Rain Barrel Project. She also has hosted school assemblies on Earth Day, participated in Pittsburgh's Earth Environment Day, and set up a booth at the Cranberry Township Community Days event to promote the Rain Barrel Project with her students.•
Michael Hilliard, Slippery Rock School District — Hilliard is a middle school eighth grade language arts teacher. He has taught for five years and has his master's degree in curriculum from Gannon University. He is a Marine Corps veteran and makes sure current members of the military are present for Civil War Day. He co-wrote the current eighth-grade curriculum. He volunteers to tutor students outside of school and volunteers at school events, such as dances. He has served as a volunteer yearbook adviser for the past four years and has helped plan and organize the Reading Festival at Youngstown State University. To help combat social issues in the middle school, he is a member of the Olweus Bullying Program Coordinating Committee. He is currently the boys cross country coach at the high school. He volunteers as a soccer coach for the Slippery Rock Soccer Association. He also has previously served on an advisory panel for the English Department at Slippery Rock University.•
Lisa R. Knappenberger, South Butler School District — Knappenberger teaches physical education at Knoch High School. She is the student council adviser and is the chairwoman of her department. With the help of student council, she holds a teacher appreciation breakfast each May where fellow teachers are served breakfast and receive gift cards. She helped implement the Stand Tall drug-free screening program and is a member of the SAP team. She helps organize a senior citizens dinner with entertainment and home cooked meals. She works closely with the South Butler Santas, organizing fun events such as the "Drop and Shop" where children can purchase holiday gifts for family members and friends to benefit the South Butler Santas. When the holidays come around, she helps identify needy families in the district and helps purchase gifts that they could not otherwise afford. She also is responsible for running and organizing the "South Butler Relay for Life," which benefits the American Cancer Society. With events such as a Survivor Lap and a luminary ceremony, the South Butler Relay for Life has been able to donate more than $12,000 in the past three years, not including the most recent 2010 bundle. With the relay and an annual Daffodil Sale, she pulled together many funds in the South Butler Community to benefit the fight against cancer.•
John H. Spaulding Jr., Butler County Vocational-Technical School — Spaulding is a graphics arts teacher. He has been teaching more than 20 years and overcame the difficulties of dyslexia. He was the assistant art director for Pittsburgh Magazine and the assistant designer at Gateway Studios. He also worked closely with Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. He is a certified Pennsylvania career and technical education vocational II instructor. A student of his won an Anti-Drug and Alcohol poster contest with images that subsequently were used in statewide campaigns. He taught students who won Skills USA national design competitions, and students who went on to be successful in their own careers. Spaulding and his students make holiday decorations for the Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center each December and help make specialty license plates during Senior Citizen Day. He has volunteered with the United Way, the Evergreen House, BC3 Forbes Road Career and Technical Education Center, and the Northern Westmoreland Career and Technical School.•
Sherry Neely, Butler County Community College ¿ Neely is a full-time pediatric and medical-surgical faculty member in the nursing department. She is a certified family nurse practitioner and registered nurse, as well as a member of the National League for Nursing, the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, and the Slippery Rock University Chapter of the Sigma Theta Tau honor society of nursing. Along with the BC3 Nursing Club, she coordinated roadside cleanup and donation collection projects. She was a co-author to the "Study Guide to accompany Richard A. Lehne Pharmacology for Nursing Care," seventh edition, as well as a contributing author to several other textbooks. Neely matched all of her students' donations to the food pantry and used her training as a nurse to be an H1N1 volunteer. She has been involved in Daryl Metcalfe's health advisory board, and she is an active member of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Butler.•
Paul Kahan, Slippery Rock University — Kahan teaches U.S. history at Slippery Rock University. He is a single father and a leader. He wrote many scholarly articles and the acclaimed book "Eastern State Penitentiary: A History" which has been nominated for the Association of State and Local History Award of Merit. He helps with the SRU History Picnic and the History Film Night. He represents his department in the university forum, recently being recognized for his "outstanding service." He serves on the McGraw-Hill Publishing Academic Advisory Board for its "Taking Sides" series. He has appeared on PNC's "Pennsylvania Books" and National Geographic Channel's "American Paranormal: Haunted Prisons" and "Strange Currencies Radio."
