[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16076]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     CONGRATULATING HEATHER IVANYI

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I would like to recognize tonight 
and congratulate a very special constituent in my congressional 
district, Heather Ivanyi, who is a teacher at Oliver Hoover Elementary 
School, and I want to thank her for her tireless efforts on behalf of 
our community's special children, those who have special needs, and for 
having been featured recently as a Super Teacher in the Miami Herald.
  Heather not only teaches her students spelling and arithmetic, but 
more importantly, she develops their creativity and positive self-
esteem. At home she focuses on her beautiful 6-year-old daughter Kayla 
Rae, who has Down's Syndrome.
  Knowing firsthand the special needs of children like her daughter, 
Heather spends her free time working for groups like the Association of 
Retarded Citizens, the Possible Dream Foundation and the American Rehab 
Corporation to further assist children with Down's Syndrome, with 
cerebral palsy and other such disabilities.
  Along with her assistant Daphne Noisette-Andre, Heather Ivanyi 
dedicates and cares for the special needs children of our community and 
we are a better community for that, and I would like to read just a few 
lines from the article that was written in the Miami Herald by Yohana 
De La Torre, and it is entitled, ``A special teacher works for special 
children, Hoover's Heather Ivanyi is tireless.'' It says, ``A Miami 
native, Ivanyi graduated from Killian High School and received her 
associate degree from Miami-Dade Community College.''
  ``In 1994, she graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in varied 
exceptionalities while working full time.
  She volunteered, became a teacher, but it says teaching did not stop 
there for Ivanyi. She started to build awareness within the community 
and made contacts with Costco, Toys R' Us and corporations like Target.
  Thanks to her persistence, these corporations still donate 
toiletries, food, toys, books and diapers to help places like the 
Association for Retarded Citizens and another special needs foundations 
called Dr. Geraldi's Possible Dreams Foundation. She says, ``I never 
take no for an answer. I have no shame in asking. I want people to 
learn that children with disabilities are human, too.''
  Her long-time friend Frances Capo, who is also a teacher, said this 
about Ivanyi, I do not know how to describe her. There are no words to 
describe her. She is a go-getter and always has a positive outlook on 
everything. She not only goes in there to teach but also to believe in 
her students.
  There are many heroes in our community, Madam Speaker, heroes like 
Heather who do not get the special recognition they deserve. Many of 
them are our teachers in our private and public schools, and to them we 
say thanks and muchos gracias.

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