[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 57 (Tuesday, May 6, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H2245]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO NANCY McROBERTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Kansas [Mr. Snowbarger] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SNOWBARGER. Mr. Speaker, it is appropriate that during Teacher 
Appreciation Week we pause to recognize the finest of those who have 
made positive differences in our lives and who likewise shaped the 
futures of our children and grandchildren.
  It is my pleasure to recognize this evening a very special educator 
from my district, in fact from my home town of Olathe, KS. Nancy 
McRoberts is the 1997 Kansas Teacher of the Year. She was chosen as her 
district's nominee from among more than 30 teachers nominated by their 
staffs at their individual schools and was then selected Teacher of the 
Year from among 90 nominated teachers State-wide.
  Nancy teaches family and consumer sciences at Olathe North High 
School. Her selection as Kansas Teacher of the Year recognizes her 
exemplary efforts in and out of the classroom during her more than 18 
years as a teacher. She has also received the Superintendent's Personal 
Commitment to Excellence Award as well as her school's Faculty Eagle 
Award.
  But Nancy's resume, as impressive as it is, cannot adequately convey 
the concern she shows for her students or the extraordinary commitment 
she has made to keeping pregnant teenagers and mothers in school. I had 
the pleasure of visiting with Nancy in the Capitol recently, and it was 
not hard to sense the fulfillment she gets from teaching. More 
importantly, her students sense it.
  Nancy develops a close relationship with her students and quickly 
earns not only their trust but their respect. For instance, she has 
been known to call absent students at home to find out why they were 
not in school.
  In addition to her normal classroom teaching duties, Nancy runs the 
Olathe school districts's Teens as Parents program, which endeavors to 
keep teen mothers and pregnant students in school until graduation. The 
program has been recognized as one of the best in the State and has 
earned the Kansas State Board of Education's Promising Practices 
Sunflower Award. Not only is she keeping students in high school, she 
also provides them with encouragement to continue their education 
beyond the 12th grade.
  As a sponsor of the Future Homemakers of America Association, Nancy 
has organized students to purchase and donate bags of story books to 
young mothers they could read to their children, as well as to students 
in a local elementary school reading program. I might add that she is 
also a certified childbirth instructor and last summer interned at the 
Olathe Medical Center and Children's Mercy Hospital.
  In one of the many newspaper articles written about this remarkable 
teacher, Nancy McRoberts said, ``I see education as a field where you 
can make your mark in the world.'' Well, Nancy, you have made your 
mark, and it will echo through the lives of the students you have so 
conscientiously taught over almost 2 decades of public service.
  It is my pleasure to honor and to thank the 1997 Kansas Teacher of 
the Year, Nancy McRoberts.

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