[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 11154]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO WENDY NELSON-KAUFFMAN

  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am delighted to honor one of our 
Nation's most dedicated, talented, and influential teachers. Wendy 
Nelson-Kauffman, a humanities teacher at the Metropolitan Learning 
Center in Bloomfield, CT, was recently named as the 2012 Magnet Schools 
of America's National Teacher of the Year.
  The Metropolitan Learning Center is part of the Capitol Region 
Education Council, which recognizes annually a teacher who 
``exemplifies excellence in academic achievement through innovative 
programs that promote equity and diversity for students in Magnet 
Schools.'' This award spotlights the exceptional teachers and schools, 
especially our Nation's magnet schools, dedicated to equal opportunity. 
The Metropolitan Learning Center, open to students in 7th through 12th 
grades in the Greater Hartford Area, is one of Connecticut's finest 
centers for secondary education.
  Since 1966, the Capitol Region Education Council has helped lead in 
reforming how we educate our Nation's children. Active in 36 areas of 
Connecticut, administering 120 programs in 20 facilities to more than 
100,000 students annually, this network of dedicated administrators, 
educators, and education reformers has made tremendous impact, 
especially in underserved communities.
  Ms. Nelson-Kauffman is renowned at the Metropolitan Learning Center. 
She has received many awards, including 2003 Connecticut Teacher of the 
Year, 2005 State History Teacher of the Year, and 2011 Capitol Region 
Education Council Teacher of the Year. But she is most respected for 
her generous energy and passion for changing the lives of our next 
generations. More telling than awards are the students who frequently 
share stories about the time Ms. Nelson-Kauffman dressed up as Rosie 
the Riveter or traveled with them to Africa and then formed the popular 
afterschool group Student Abolitionists Stopping Slavery.
  For almost 20 years as an educator at Hamden and Bloomfield High 
Schools and adult education centers, Ms. Nelson-Kauffman has used 
project-based learning with tremendous success. Her passion for 
journalism fosters an experiential, interactive teaching method. As 
Metropolitan Learning Center's social studies teacher and personal 
project coordinator for the prestigious International Baccalaureate 
Program, Ms. Nelson-Kauffman embraces a lifelong love of the past by 
placing it into the context of the present.
  She shares her own genuine love of history with her classrooms. In 
2003, invited to attend the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center Teacher 
Institute, she studied primary resources that unearthed stories of 
19th-century women reformers. With this new background as inspiration, 
she introduced sensitive topics like abolitionism and racism to her 
high school students with tact and grace.
  As an ambassador to educators around Connecticut, Ms. Nelson-Kauffman 
has demonstrated the effectiveness of multicultural teaching methods, 
to include travel, activities, group interactions, concerts, and dance. 
Her authenticity is rare and a real treasure. She is a stellar role 
model for anyone who mentors or teaches our future leaders. I hope my 
Senate colleagues will join me in congratulating Ms. Nelson-Kauffman, 
who has helped mitigate apathy and promote enthusiasm for the study of 
humanities.

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