The Elizabethan Education Association (EEA) Spring Conference was held Thursday, April 12, 2007, in Mahoney Library Octagon. More than 200 CSE students in the education program attended the day’s conference, along with CSE administration, faculty and graduate students. The EEA conference is a student run professional education conference that has been a tradition at CSE for more than 20 years.

 

Sister Francis Raftery, president of CSE, welcomed audience members to the conference, saying “Welcome to this profession. Know that there are no more important people in the entire world than those who call themselves teachers.

 

The recipient of this year’s Partners in Education Award is Nancy Bennett, teacher at Mountain View Middle School and adjunct lecturer in Education at CSE. CSE bestows the award upon a person who exemplifies great leadership in education and who enriches the experience of pre-service teachers.

 

Although Ms. Bennett was unable to make it to this year’s EEA conference, CSE Elementary Education student Robyn Whitehead, ’07, received the award in her place, thanking her.

 

In addition, CSE alum and keynote speaker, Rosangela Perez, ’05, spoke to students about the transitional phase that is ahead of them after they graduate from College. “As an educator, you will be expected to be a mother, a counselor, a mediator, a role model and most cherished of all a friend,” she said. “I encourage you to be attentive, to be motivated educators; to move forth and improve the future of education by becoming inspiring and well-trained teachers. The future of education is in our hands; may you all develop your unique techniques and find innovative ways to reach the future generation.”

 

As a special honor, Ms. Perez received an award from the EEA Committee for her educational leadership as a school teacher and also for being this year’s keynote speaker at the conference.

 

Ms. Perez graduated from the College with a B.A. in Elementary/Early Childhood/Special Education and Spanish, and currently teaches first grade in Hoboken Public Schools.

 

 

 

(l – r) CSE Elementary Education student and EEA co-President Janel Sabella, ’08, stands besides CSE alumna and keynote speaker Rosangela Perez, ’05, CSE student and EEA co-President Toni Rotondi, ’08, and Dr. Deborah Tulloch, associate professor of Education at CSE, at the College’s annual Elizabethan Education Association (EEA) spring conference on Thursday, April 12, 2007. Ms. Perez, who spoke about both her experience as a CSE student and teacher, received an award from EEA for her educational leadership and for being this year’s keynote speaker at Thursday’s conference. (Photo by Courtney Smolen)

 

After the lecture, students attended interactive workshops that examined several topics including how to handle bullying, addressing the issues of child abuse, teaching in a K-12 community, and methods of holding successful high school English classes.