[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 11789]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO KATHERINE McMONAGLE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. BETTY McCOLLUM

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 7, 2005

  Ms. McCOLLUM of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today to 
honor and to recognize Katherine McMonagle--a devoted educator and a 
life-long learner. Katherine has announced her plans to retire after 
thirty-four year of service.
  Katherine has dedicated her professional career to thousands of 
students in the North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale school district, 
located in Minnesota's Fourth Congressional District. From Carver 
Elementary School to North Saint Paul High School, Kathie has been an 
inspiring teacher to her students and a caring mentor to her 
colleagues.
  In her first year as a teacher she taught physical education to 
elementary students and for the following eight years she continued in 
this subject area and taught middle schoolers the benefits of physical 
activity. As her portfolio changed to include health studies over 20 
years ago, she became committed to helping students learn about the 
dangers of smoking and helping student smokers to quit.
  In fact, she developed a program in conjunction with the Ramsey 
County chapter of the American Lung Association and her high school. A 
few years later her idea expanded to include a district-wide K-12 
program committed to smoking prevention. Her idea continued to grow as 
the Lung Association started to move the program to other school 
districts.
  And her ideas and commitment didn't stop there. Kathie also developed 
and implemented a service learning course where high school students--
freshmen through seniors--work with communities to identify and address 
a need and develop a plan to solve the problem. The students use 
marketing, communication, math and other skills to come up with an 
implementation plan. This kind of creativity and innovation in 
curriculum is admired and supported not only by the students, but also 
by their parents, the communities, and other teachers who participate.
  Kathie's skill and determination to create new and exciting 
opportunities for students is a consistent theme in her esteemed 
teaching career. She ensured that her school district would not be the 
only one to not provide a competitive golf team for girls. She also 
started up the high school's Knowledge and Quiz bowl teams and she's 
been their coach for the past eight years.
  Over the course of Katherine's career, she has grown and developed 
confidence, grace, and skill in working with teenagers about personal 
health and development issues--which can be difficult subjects to 
broach with teens. Her desire to bring out the best in people and to 
encourage them to find new ways to lead healthy, successful, and 
enriching lives echoes through her work and will have a lasting impact 
on all those lucky enough to have been her student. She has encouraged 
mutual respect, honesty, and integrity in the classroom--important 
attributes that students have taken with them.
  It is with respect and thanks that I rise to salute a teacher who 
will be missed, and whose legacy and ideas will continue long after she 
says her goodbyes to her students and colleagues.

                          ____________________