2000 Elizabeth Breathwaite Student Leadership Award.

Heather Ashton, Unna Hietala, and Sara Olderog have been honored as the 2000 recipients of ACEI's Elizabeth Breathwaite Student Leadership Award. This award recognizes outstanding student members who have shown remarkable achievement in academics, leadership ability, school and community involvement, and service to the Association. In addition to a $300 scholarship to help defray the cost of attending ACEI's 2000 Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, each student received a complimentary conference registration.

Heather Ashton graduated from the University of Central Florida in May 2000 with a degree in Early Childhood Education. An ACEI member for over two years, Ashton served her Student Branch last year as Executive Historian / Reporter. In 1999, she attended ACEI's Annual Conference in San Antonio.

"As I know that the best teachers are learners themselves, it was wonderful to be able to take part in such a rich networking experience." At the 2000 Annual Conference, Ashton and fellow Branch members presented a Make 'n Take Workshop, "Moving Beyond Our Assumptions: Parent Involvement in the New Millennium."

Unna Hietala, from the University of Oulu in Finland, received her Masters of Education degree last May. A member since 1995, Hietala served her Branch as a Student Representative from 1997-1999 and participated in a 1995 ACEI conference in Oulu. In 2000, she participated in a poster presentation at ACEI's Annual Conference.

"I am a member of ACEI because I believe we can learn a lot about education by sharing our thoughts through international communication," says Hietala. "Somehow the world is becoming `smaller' and easier to comprehend with the help of contacts abroad."

Sara Olderog graduated from the University of Nebraska at Kearney in December 1999 with a degree in elementary education. As an undergraduate, she volunteered with several campus and community-based groups. In 1999, she attended ACEI's conference in San Antonio, where she parcipated in the Hall of Excellence. As a founding member of the Student Branch at UNK, Olderog served as her Branch's Public Relations Officer and was published in the Fall 1999 issue of ACEI's Student Connection.

"As an early childhood instructor," says Olderog, "I will continually strive to meet the needs of my students, treat them with respect and dignity, and nurture them for the future. As I teach a child, I will be touching the future."

ACEI 2000 Awards

The following awards were presented this past April at ACEI's Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. Congratulations to all the recipients!

Outstanding Member Service Awards: Mary True Morgan Carol M. Helwig

NCATE Service Awards--10 Years: Betty Ruth Baker Sandra Robinson

NCATE Service Awards--5 Years: Jacqueline Blackwell Jeanie Bumett Mary Cramer Georgianna Duarte Janis Murphy Trudy Parmarter Suzanne Rose Sally Sentner Sandra Starkey Sharon White-Williams

2001 ACEI World Conference

Due to the political unrest and escalating violence taking place in the Philippines, the ACEI 2001 World Conference, Hands Across the World: Education Children for World Peace and Unity, previously scheduled to take place July 25-28, 2001 in Manila, has been postponed. When it is rescheduled, ACEI members will be advised. The Conference organizers and the ACEI Executive Board very much regret the necessity to make this decision; however, under the circumstances, we felt this was the best course of action in the interest of the safety of those who would attend.