Guests of honor
By Patrick Kelley
Originally published 01:05 p.m., June 17, 2008
Updated 01:05 p.m., June 17, 2008
EMPORIA WILL HAVE five especially welcome visitors this week. The National Teachers Hall of Fame’s inductees for 2008 will be honored Thursday and Friday at Emporia State University.
But it is not just the hall of fame and the university that will welcome the teachers.
Since the hall of fame was established almost 20 years ago, the people of Emporia have been deeply involved in honoring the teachers who are chosen for induction each year. Emporia is, after all, an education town. Every year, the Teachers College at ESU sends hundreds of new teachers out to the nation. Among the teachers, teachers of teachers, retired teachers and parents who call the city home, there is an abiding interest in the quality and practice of education.
It is no wonder that the hall of fame inductees arrive each year to find that they are — in this town — celebrities.
This year’s class of inductees is:
• Ronald J. Blanchard, an earth-science teacher from Ray D. Molo Middle School in Lake Charles, La.
• Kathleen Faye Engle, a physical-education teacher at Newcastle Middle School in Newcastle, Wyo.
• Penny B. Ferguson, an English teacher at Maryville High School in Maryville, Tenn.
• David Lazerson, a pre-kindergarten special-education teacher and music director at the Quest Center in Hollywood, Fla.
• Suzanne Ransleben, who teaches standard and pre-Advanced Placement English at Carroll High School in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The induction events begin Thursday morning. The induction ceremony will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Albert Taylor Hall at ESU. In between, there is a full schedule of public and private events.
We welcome the Class of 2008 and hope that they will, from now on, consider themselves adoptive Emporians.
Have a fine time this week, teachers, and come back to visit often.
Emporia will always be glad to see you.
Patrick S. Kelley
Editorial Page Editor