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Sponsors Section Highlights:
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Sponsor Spotlight
NHD Honors ABC-CLIO With Corporate Leadership Award
National History Day (NHD) will present ABC-CLIO with the 2006 Corporate Leadership Award for its outstanding corporate leadership in advancing and promoting history education.
The Corporate Leadership Award is presented to a company that has shown exemplarily leadership in promoting and enhancing history education in the United States. ABC-CLIO CEO Ron Boehm will accept the award at the 2006 NHD Awards Ceremony at the University of Maryland Cole Field House on June 15.
ABC-CLIO is being recognized for its commitment to produce innovative learning materials and teacher resources for history education. A premier history publisher for over 50 years, ABC-CLIO has received critical acclaim for enhancing history research, teaching, and learning through its critically acclaimed abstracting and indexing databases, award-winning book program, and innovative online resources.
Each year, millions of students across the U.S. are experiencing history personally, and connect their own lives to the great lives and events of the past thanks to ABC-CLIO’s support of NHD.
ABC-CLIO is sponsoring the new NHD “Making History” series of five workbooks that will help educators incorporate historical inquiry into curricula and provide step-by step resources to guide students in developing NHD projects. In addition, ABC-CLIO partnered with NHD to create the Triumph and Tragedy in History series of teacher resource books, which provide primary and secondary sources as well as dynamic classroom activities aligned to the 2007 National History Day theme. More information on the published material is available at http://www.abc-clio.com/schools.
These materials exemplify ABC-CLIO’s commitment to provide students with historical material that both celebrates and challenges our concept of the national heritage. NHD is proud to recognize ABC-CLIO for combining quality research with active learning that brings the excitement of lively history and participatory civics into the classroom.
“Our partnership with ABC-CLIO provides teachers with materials that help them succeed in the classroom and encourages students to explore their history,” Cathy Gorn, executive director of NHD said. “We are appreciative of ABC-CLIO’s expertise and contributions to enhancing the NHD program.”
“It’s an honor to receive the National History Day Corporate Leadership Award,” said Becky Snyder, President and Schools Publisher of ABC-CLIO. “Our partnership with National History Day is one way ABC-CLIO works to enhance social studies education for secondary students and teachers. We are pleased to be recognized for our contribution to National History Day’s success.”
Spotlight on Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania/Columbia Gas of Maryland
When Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania/Columbia Gas of Maryland asked their employees and customers how the company should give back to the community the response was “support the humanities!” Columbia Gas employees are bucking the trend of corporate support for only science and technology in favor of supporting National History Day. The company not only supports National History Day (NHD) with dollars, but the employees take an active interest in the program, serving as judges, volunteers at local and state contests, and as ambassadors in their children’s schools to promote the program.
“Columbia Gas employees serve as volunteers for numerous NHD events each year and, thereby, truly make a difference in children's lives,” explains Rosemary Martinelli, Manager of Corporate Contributions and Community Relations for Columbia Gas. “The volunteers love the experience and interaction with young people. Through NHD, Columbia Gas invests in education, families, our heritage, and the overall quality of life in the community. We know that in business we need creative thinkers, team leaders, and employees with organization and communication skills. Humanities in general and NHD in particular teach these important skills.”
Kelly Kimberland, Communications Specialist for Columbia Gas, and a self-professed history buff, recalls, “I volunteered as a judge in 1996 and became hooked. To see the creativity and dedication that the students put into the projects has brought me back year after year. It is the one volunteer event that I look forward to each year.”
Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania and Columbia Gas of Maryland are part of the Columbia Energy Group, one of the nation's leading energy companies. The two utilities serve more than 410,000 customers in Maryland and Pennsylvania with nearly 800 employees. Both also have a long history of community service. Columbia Gas partners with NHD to provide social and economic investments in its communities, and to share in the history of each community.
The benefits of participating in the National History Day program affect all involved. Volunteers become engaged in the education process and more connected to their community. Beth Reed remarks, “My family absolutely loves the program. My husband, David, and I truly look forward to serving as judges each year. It is exciting to see Maryland's students present projects that they have become engaged in. We are constantly amazed at the high level of work they do. I am actively promoting NHD to my son's private school in hopes of getting them to participate. I've learned a great deal just from witnessing the work of these students.”
Even volunteers exposed to NHD for the first time, such as Columbia Gas Engineer Andrea Modispacher, believe the program is making a difference in their community. “In a world where you see and hear so many negatives involving younger and younger children, it is so positive to see a program that has risen above this and is truly capturing the meaning of learning and having fun while they are accomplishing the task.”
National History Day is built and sustained by the efforts of volunteers across America. NHD is very thankful for the support and active interest Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania and Maryland have taken in the program. NHD looks forward to working with more companies like Columbia Gas that believe the best way to achieve future success is to teach tomorrow’s leaders essential life skills through a discovery of the past.
“I’m extremely proud that Columbia Gas is part of the NHD program,” Kelly Kimberland states. “Many companies provide contributions to the science and math education programs. However, as a student of the liberal arts, I believe that even in math and science programs an individual needs to understand the fundamentals of writing proposals and making presentations. The contributions that Columbia Gas makes to the humanities benefit all students to become well-rounded communicators.” |
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