2022 ACHIEVE Award Winner
2022 ACHIEVE Award Winner
Cathy Morse- Lubec Consolidated School
Just recently at ACTEM’s 2022 fall conference we pesented the 2022 ACHIEVE Award to teacher Cathy Morse from the Lubec Consolidated School. The ACTEM ACHIEVE Award honors professionals who effectively apply available technology now. They move forward utilizing current best practices and cutting-edge approaches. They see students as real people by activating student voice and choice in education. They teach through relationships, inspiring, encouraging and nurturing.
The ACHIEVE Award is ACTEM’s version of ISTE’s “Making IT Happen” Award, which “honors outstanding educators and leaders who demonstrate extraordinary commitment, leadership, courage and persistence in improving digital learning opportunities for students.” The ACHIEVE award provides a $2000 personal cash award for Cathy along with an additional $1000 gift certificate for her school to spend on educational technology.
Jon Graham of the DOE introduced Cathy at the fall conference…
When I started at the Department of Education in 2019, I was not fully aware of the opportunities that I would have, working at the state level, to champion the work of educators across our state. I have been fortunate to connect with so many educators in ways great and small over the past three years. One of my true passions within this position is to find ways to shine a light on the great work of educators across this state. And one way in which I can do that is through award nominations.
Fast forward to August 2022 when my son and I were adventuring through Downeast Maine when we stopped at the Clay of Fundy art studio owned by teacher and artist Connie Harter-Bagley. Connie attended a MLTI SLAM training at Nokomis the previous month and our conversation revolved around a remarkable teacher at that training. Connie thought that this person deserved some sort of Teacher of Year type recognition and I suggested looking at ACTEM’s ACHIEVE award. Before I arrived back home in Waterville, Connie let me know that she had sent off the nomination.
I shared with the ACTEM ACHIEVE AWARDS Committee that Cathy had done some state-level work as part of the MARTL program from 2016 to 2018, before we even met. I did finally meet her in January of 2020, when she came to Augusta to serve on the MLTI Advisory Board as a representative of both classroom teachers and rural Maine schools.
One of Cathy’s colleagues stated…
Ms. Morse isn't just a competent IT professional classroom teacher. Her cheerful demeanor, her kind engagement with students, her caring compassion, and her focused commitment makes her a prime candidate for this award. I have worked with her for nine years and found her to be a better teacher who is more engaging because of her knowledge of IT but also a better colleague. I trust her to have my back with our students and their families, now that we are back in school, but during Covid zooming she was an infinite help.
Jim Moulton added…
Cathy Morse is a Maine educator, a downeast Maine educator. Always wanting to learn and share, Cathy took on the role of MARTL (Maine Apple Refresh Teacher Leader) following the 2016 Apple MLTI refresh. The focus of this role was to help others learn by sharing what worked, helping all teachers make the most of the new technology.
During the first of two summer MARTL events at Bowdoin College, participants were enjoying a lobster bake outside - long tables, lobsters, corn, clams… One of the Apple Distinguished Educators who had come to Maine to share innovative practices with the MARTLs had come face-to-face with a lobster for the first time that evening. The lobsters were hard shells, and she was struggling to open the crusher claw of her dinner.
Cathy confidently stepped forward, and offered to “…show her how to open that claw.” Placing the claw flat on the paper covered wooden trestle table, she made a fist, raised it, and brought it sharply down onto the claw, expertly cracking it and leaving the meat untouched. That was pure Cathy. She saw someone who would benefit from learning, and she showed them how their challenge could be solved. And she did it in such a way that the learning was memorable.
Congratulation to Cathy Morse of Lubec Consolidated Schoolas this year’s ACTEM ACHIEVE Award winner!
ACTEM Association of Computer Technology Educators of Maine P.O. Box 187, Gorham, ME 04038 Phone: (207) 222-4353 Fax: (207) 222-2057 Email: info@actem.org |
