EDUCATION EXTRA.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Principal to be honored for quick action

Charlie Smith, principal at Eugene's McCornack Elementary School, will be honored in a ceremony May 18 with a Eugene Police Department Citizen Service Award for helping two University of Oregon Department of Public Safety officers subdue a suspect who had assaulted them.

The incident occurred at about 9:30 a.m. March 18, soon after Smith was finishing a 15-mile run on the Willamette River path. He spotted a commotion in the millrace and realized a man was fighting with two officers and attempting to drown them.

"It was one of those things where there was no choice," said Smith, an avid runner who was training for the Boston Marathon at the time. "These people needed help - instantly."

Smith jumped into the water and tried to subdue the suspect, but it took help from a fourth passerby, who will also receive an award, to finally get him handcuffed. Smith suffered cuts on his legs from the struggle in waist-deep water.

"Your actions to assist the DPS officers before Eugene Police officers could arrive helped prevent further injury to the officers or the suspect," Police Chief Robert Lehner wrote in a letter to Smith.

The suspect, 52-year-old Terry Neil Blankenship of Eugene, was later charged with two counts of attempted murder.

Direct Instruction author earns award

Eugene textbook author Siegfried "Zig" Engelmann, developer of the acclaimed Direct Instruction method, has earned an Academic Recognition Award for Lifetime Achievement in Education from SRA/McGraw-Hill, a leader in elementary educational publishing.

Engelmann will be recognized at Chicago's Field Museum on Tuesday during a ceremony that coincides with the International Reading Association annual conference.

Engelmann has dedicated the past 40 years to advancing the theory and practice of instruction. A philosophy major who worked briefly in advertising, Engelmann shifted his focus to education in the 1960s, conducting empirical research and field testing of instructional techniques. By working with his own children, Engelmann developed the Direct Instruction method, which he refined and tested through field work with thousands of children.

His accomplishments include 18 books and an array of curricula including 20 reading programs, eight spelling programs, 18 mathematics programs, and 13 language/writing programs.

In 1999, Direct Instruction was found to be one of two programs out of 22 that showed evidence of positive effects on student achievement in a study by the American Institutes for Research's Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center, funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

ARC of Oregon names teacher of the year

Joanne Wirtala, a first-grade teacher at Eugene's Spring Creek Elementary School, has been selected Teacher of the Year by the ARC of Oregon. She was selected Teacher of the Year by the ARC of Lane County earlier this year, and went on to earn the statewide honor.

Wirtala, who is retiring this spring after 30 years in the district, is known for going out of her way to include children with disabilities in her class, Principal Jane Carter said. Spring Creek has a self-contained Lifeskills program serving children with severe cognitive and physical disabilities. Wirtala has team-taught with Lifeskills teacher Anne Glenn for the eight years the school has housed the program. Together, they find creative and meaningful ways to provide first-grade experiences for the children in Lifeskills, Carter said. Glenn nominated Wirtala for the ARC award.

Sheldon High senior receives scholarship

Cody Witham, a senior at Eugene's Sheldon High School, is the recipient of the McKesson Merit Scholarship, a corporate-financed Merit Scholarship. McKesson Corp. is the leading provider of supply, information and care management products and services designed to reduce costs and improve health care.

Witham, who is interested in pursuing a career in engineering, is one of four Oregon students and approximately 1,000 students nationwide to earn a corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship. He was selected from a pool of finalists who are typically children of the company's employees, residents of communities served by the company or planning to pursue related careers. Most scholarships are renewable for up to four years of undergraduate study, and range from $500 to $10,000 per year.

More than 1.3 million juniors entered the 2006 Merit Scholarship competition when they took the 2004 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of entrants. About 16,000 were named semifinalists.

Shasta earns prize for student council

Shasta Middle School, in the Bethel School District, is one of 11 high schools and 17 middle schools in Oregon to receive grand-prize recognition for its student council. The award, sponsored by the Oregon Association of Student Councils, sets high standards and honors councils that achieve them. To receive the award, councils must be involved in school and community services; activities to promote school spirit and pride; sportsmanship; student and staff recognition; and leadership training.

The school will be honored at the annual spring conference this week in Eugene.

Churchill High youth volunteer honored

Bradley Goldsberry, a senior at Eugene's Churchill High School, was honored in a ceremony last week as one of Oregon's top two youth volunteers for 2006 in the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program. He received an engraved silver medallion, and will also get $1,000 and an all-expense paid trip this week to Washington, D.C., where he will join other top honorees from around the country for several days of recognition events.

Goldsberry was honored for planning two golf tournaments that raised more than $6,000 for students who could not afford to participate in extracurricular sports and other activities.