2001 Annie Sullivan Award Winner: Donna Myers

This year's Annie Sullivan Award winner has been described by those who nominated her "as the most caring person they know when it comes to dealing with students with disabilities." She has been able to "dig-in" and bring out the best in students when their abilities have often been underestimated by others." She has continually encouraged her students to become independent, productive adults and has challenged them to accomplish things far beyond the expectations of most. She has worked with students and families after school and during the summer to assure that her students' skills would not deteriorate.

She along with some of her colleagues, initiated a very unique program for students with visual impairments, called the HOMES Program. Through this program many students with visual impairments have been given the opportunity to participate in many activities they might not have otherwise experienced. This program has received statewide recognition and has been presented at regional and state meetings.

Our honoree has worked with an exchange student from Russia who is totally blind. She spent many hours gathering materials and information regarding Russian culture, as well as learning some of the language in order to better meet his needs. Most people would panic given this scenario, however, she simply looked at the challenge and met it head-on. She had a student who was a very talented pianist and vocalist who was blind. She provided the necessary supports including the brailling of music for this student to advance her talents. She always seems to get beyond a student's disabilities and focus on the student's positive qualities.

She has worked with classroom teachers and students to help them understand visual impairments so that they are not intimidated by canes, braillers, etc. Principals have reported that her students would never have made it in the mainstream without her support, not only with the students, but also with the entire staff.

Our honoree is recognized for her work at the local and state levels. She is well respected among her colleagues and is known as "the fastest brailler in the state."

To quote Helen Keller: "You have heard how through a little word dropped from the fingers of another (Annie Sullivan), a ray of light from another soul touched the darkness of my mind and I found myself, found the world. If it is because my teacher learned about me and broke through the dark, silent imprisonment which held me that I am able to work for myself and others." This is what our honoree has been doing for those blind and partially-sighted students for the past twenty-eight years, she has been an employee of Intermediate Unit I.

She is that ray of light whose soul has touched, and continues to touch, that darkness which envelops many of her student's minds.

We present the Annie Sullivan Award for 2001 to Donna Myers, Vision Support Teacher at Connellsville School District and the Assistive Technology Consultant for the vision program.

Donna, please come forward to accept your award. Donna's husband George and son Seth are with us today and we ask them to come forward and share this moment with Donna.