[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 145 (Monday, November 13, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2090]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  TRIBUTE TO LYN CHAN, RECIPIENT OF THE NEA'S CHRISTA McAULIFFE AWARD

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                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, November 13, 2000

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Lyn Chan, a 
recently retired fourth-grade teacher who taught at the Skyline 
Elementary School in Daly City, California in my Congressional 
District. Ms. Chan has been awarded the Christa McAuliffe Award. This 
award, which is presented annually by the National Education 
Association (NEA), is the highest professional honor that the NEA can 
bestow upon its members.
  Mr. Speaker, as my colleagues know, the Christa McAuliffe Award was 
created to honor the memory of Christa McAuliffe, the teacher chosen by 
NASA to be the first private United States citizen to participate in a 
space flight. After her death during the ill-fated Challenger shuttle 
launch in 1986, the NEA established an award in her honor to pay 
tribute to her professionalism, dedication, and desire to ``touch the 
future'' through excellence in teaching.
  Mr. Speaker, Ms. Chan is certainly most deserving of this high honor. 
She exhibited outstanding innovation and contributed extraordinary 
service in the field of education. Utilizing advanced technologies such 
as laser discs, CD-ROMs, camcorders, robotics, and other such means, 
she fired the inquisitiveness of her students in their study of the 
sciences. Too often we hear about American students lagging behind the 
rest of the world in math and science skills. Ms. Chan is one teacher 
doing all she can to rectify this problem, and she deserves our 
commendation for her efforts. It is my sincere hope that other teaches 
will follow her excellent lead.
  Ms. Chan also served as a mentor for the NEA Foundation's The Road 
Ahead program. This NEA program paired Ms. Chan with an elementary 
school and its faculty in Columbia, South Carolina. As a mentor to her 
South Carolina colleagues, Ms. Chan was able to provide her fellow 
teachers with advice, knowledge, and other tools necessary to integrate 
technology with teaching and learning.
  Mr. Speaker, Lyn Chan was characterized by one of her colleagues as a 
``teacher who goes the extra mile not for rewards or recognition, but 
simply out of her love for teaching and a desire to help all students 
succeed.'' I cannot think of a higher compliment to extend to an 
educator. Mr. Speaker, it has also been said that Ms. Chan is the model 
of excellence in teaching because of her constant pursuit of new 
knowledge and skills to enhance her role as a professional educator, 
and through her innovative approaches in applying new technologies to 
teaching and learning. I urge my colleagues to join me in honoring and 
commending Ms. Chan on her accomplishments and particularly to join me 
in congratulating her for receiving the National Education 
Association's Christa McAuliffe Award.




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