NANCY KAPLAN HONORED AS AN EDUCATOR OF EXCELLENCE BY THE NEW YORK STATE ENGLISH COUNCIL

After being nominated by Ms. Horowitz last year, on November 15, 2007 our very own Nancy Kaplan, a member of our inaugural team of teachers, was honored as an Educator of Excellence by the New York State English Council (NYSEC). Every year NYSEC holds an event at its Annual Conference to honor the work and professionalism of English Language Arts educators. Award winners show a commitment to excellence, innovation, and creativity in teaching, mentoring, and learning.

Attending the awards ceremony with Ms. Kaplan , was our junior student, International Insider reporter Marco Muniz, who covered the story for our paper. Marco was also fortunate to hear the keynote speaker, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi. Following her address, Ms. Nafisi granted Marco an interview which will be featured in the next issue of The International Insider.

As the creator of our award winning newspaper, The International Insider, our 11th grade journalism class, our literary magazine Black and White Reflections, as well as being a champion of establishing educational opportunities for global collaboration for all of our students such as our International Teen Scrapbook and the Pearl World Youth News Project (an international online newspaper for students), Nancy Kaplan has inspired excellence and creativity in her students. She works tirelessly and with passion every day to help students improve their writing, to inculcate in them a love for literature and learning, and to help them to become open minded, ethical global citizens. Please join me in congratulating Ms. Nancy Kaplan on this honor.