The winner's circle

Spankie Lou Bassett, ACTE

Teacher of the Year

Spankie Lou Bassett scans her classroom. Every student sits in silence, working diligently. Satisfied with their focus, Bassett settles in at her desk and begins to grade homework assignments. Suddenly a student slumps forward and slides from her chair. Ten-year-old Spankie Lou barely blinks an eye. After all, her students are dolls seated at makeshift desks and the lesson plans are dittos left behind by the teacher who sold the Bassetts their new home. Though her first classroom was make-believe, the spark it lit for the little girl hasn't burned out yet.

Bassett, a family and consumer sciences and culinary arts instructor at Bernalillo High School in Bernalillo, N.M., has had quite a year. She received a Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award last fall before being honored as ACTE's

Teacher of the Year in December. And while such national recognition is overwhelming, it's not what motivates this creative educator.

When life hands you lemons... At 18, Bassett discovered firsthand the obstacles young adults can face. Already divorced from her high school sweetheart, she was a single mother and recent high school graduate without an abundance of career skills. She was on her own to learn parenting skills and find a means of support that wouldn't force her to spend too much time away from her daughter.

Her sister made a fortuitous suggestion: "You know how to sew and cook and you want time to spend with the baby, so why not give teaching a try?" Bassett indeed had the skills and stepped right into the home economics program at Magdalena Middle School in New Mexico.

Fast forward 20 years: Bassett is a veteran educator in her sixth year at Bernalillo.

Bernalillo is a low-income area, surrounded by five Pueblo Indian communities. The high school student population is 45 percent Native American, 40 percent Hispanic and 15 percent Anglo. It has only one African-American student. Bassett must overcome language barriers since, for many students, English is not the primary language used at home. Education levels among students and their parents also vary.

Bernalillo has a strong need for workplace and family-management skills, and that's what Bassett most likes to teach. And with restaurant-rich Albuquerque nearby, Bassett's culinary arts students train for careers in the food-service industry.

At your Service. The Campus Cafe is open for business and the crowd is clamoring for the eatery's famous breakfast burritos.

The cafe was the first new course Bassett introduced at Bernalillo to help students recognize the value of their classroom study and gain hands-on work experience.

"The great thing about the operation of the Campus Cafe is that out of 100 employees, 20 are in management roles and take a lead in running the cafe; the others are all wonderful employees, learning the basics of running a kitchen," says Bassett.

The cafe's success encouraged her to start two more school enterprises: the Campus Bakery which generally sells out by noon and is now taking orders in advance because of demandand a new catering course in which students plan, develop and execute any outside catering event. And students are eating it up: 35 were in the food service program five years ago. Now there are more than five times that many.

Riding high. Bassett's spirit for adventure spills over into her personal life. She has served as a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician, winning the title of New Mexico Firefighter of the Year in 1984; and gets her exercise on lengthy bicycling tours. Where does she get the energy?

"The biking is something we just did on a leisurely level," she says. "Then a friend's son was killed by a drunk driver while on a bike tour in 1990. A group of 12 of us have been cycling together ever since as a tribute to Brian. It's great for physical release, opening your mind and setting new goals for yourself."

Mark Johnson, outstanding

Career and Technical Educator

Mark Johnson faced a question familiar to many graduating high school seniors: What am I going to do with my life?

A dedicated agriculture student in high school, Johnson always knew he would follow his father and brothers to a career in farming. But now, he looked around and derided he didn't like what he saw. The Pittsburg, Kan., area suffered as farm foreclosures reached an all-time high and the hardships he saw plague his friends and neighbors discouraged Johnson.

Already employed in management at a local newspaper, Johnson had to decide whether to keep his job and pursue a degree in business administration at a local college or travel five hours to Kansas State, a land-grant university, to study agricultural education.

Johnson made the "safe" choice and received his degree in business administration from Pittsburg State University. But his choice later proved to be instrumental in establishing a career foundation that combined his experience and skills and served his interests.

Changing courses. After spending seven years in newspaper circulation management, Johnson received a phone call that would send his career in a new and challenging direction. His mentor, Jesse Hudson, called and invited him to serve as the new state director of VICA-putting a lot of confidence behind a friend who had not worked in education. But the two men had known each other since Johnson beat out one of Hudson's students to become a national officer for VICA. Now Hudson could sit back while his colleagues discovered what he already knew: Mark Johnson can and will get the job done-any job!

Johnson now is an associate professor of trade, technical and industrial education at Pittsburg State, where he has spent his entire 14-year career in higher education.

Always be prepared. As a teacher educator and product of career tech education, Johnson was acutely aware or the neea for better and more efficient teacher training in his state. So he developed the university's first CD-ROM training course, which is now a prerequisite for all trade and industrial and health teachers in Kansas.

Johnson also has traveled thousands of miles throughout Kansas and neighboring states bringing seminars and workshops to hundreds of teachers. His efforts are particularly important in rural areas where potential teachers might otherwise have to travel hours for training of the same caliber. "We have great schools, but training was available only in limited areas," Johnson says. "This is my way of bringing the mountain to them. We need to make training accessible to get quality teachers into the classroom."

Dena Wuebker, Outstanding

New Career and Technical

Education Teacher

"It doesn't matter how much you know until the students know you care."

Agricultural education instructor Dena Wuebker takes her motto seriously and puts it into action in her classroom at Versailles High School in Ohio. Wuebker makes a point of visiting each new freshman in her program at home before the school year starts so she can establish a relationship with the students and their parents.

Wuebker also recommends that teachers make the time to see what activities their students are involved in outside the classroom. "Go to a football game or choral recital," she suggests. "See your students as people outside the classroom and you'll begin to understand where they are coming from and what their personalities are like."

Wuebker's agriscience and agricultural production courses are becoming increasing popular in a community with deep roots in the poultry industry. With so many advances in the field, it isn't just about the basics anymore.

Getting good press. It's a wonder Wuebker has the time to make such a personal commitment to her students. She hit the ground running after coming to Versailles in 1994, a recent graduate of Ohio State University. Her resume of professional memberships and accomplishments would make any young teacher's head spin, yet Wuebker is constantly looking to take on additional challenges. Her commitment to career and technical education is evident to her colleagues in Ohio: in 1998, Chuck Miller, Ohio Vocational Association president, selected her to chair the OVA Publications Committee. The position entailed managing production of a quarterly newsletter distributed to more than 4,000 educators throughout the state.

Wuebker is finishing her master's degree in secondary administration after being encouraged to consider administration by two superiors. "Dena is one of the best, if not the best, young agriculture teacher in the state," says her principal, William Schuette. "Perhaps her greatest asset is her tremendous work ethic and her ability to bring out the best in her students."

Wuebker has worked to incorporate advances in agricultural technology into her classes. The fruits of her efforts include a 42-acre land laboratory where students develop conservation practices and study hydroponics.

With all this already on her plate, you may wonder what's next for this dynamic young educator. "To find some time for myself!" she says with conviction and a laugh.