The KAPPAN Congratulates

Royaline Edwards Receives Sarah Farmer Peace Award Florida AΔK Beta Psi Art Teacher Wins State Award

Royaline Edwards of Kittery, a member of ME Epsilon Chapter, is the recipient of the 2020 Sarah Farmer Peace Award. The award is presented annually by the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Portsmouth, NH, and Green Acre Baha’i Center of Learning in Eliot, ME, to recognize the contributions of area individuals or groups who strive to promote world peace and understanding among nations and members through local action. She received her award in a public webinar ceremony recognizing the United Nations International Day of Peace in September.

During the question and answer part of the webinar, Royaline said, “As a peace-builder, I use the building blocks of love, joy and peace to strengthen stature, assembling respect, integrity and perseverance to enhance and promote well-being.”

Royaline retired as an elementary school teacher in Portsmouth, NH, after dedicating 34 years to the education of young children. She wrote and directed the play, Listen to the Drums - A Tribute to Harriet Tubman, and was instrumental in working with teachers and students at several schools on its production. In 2002 she received an invitation from the Seacoast Repertory Theater to produce “Drums” in celebration of Black History Month. She brought together a cast of former and present thespians of “Drums” who performed to a packed house.

She was thrilled that the Peace Award Ceremony offered another opportunity to bring the message of the play to the community through a virtual presentation. Royaline was asked on one occasion about the impact of the play on the students. She shared an encounter with a young substitute teacher who was walking by during a rehearsal for an upcoming production. Waiting for a moment the teacher said, smiling, that she knew the song the children were singing. It turned out that she had been a cast member of “Drums” when she was in third grade. She still remembered the lines of the character she had portrayed and recited them perfectly. Royaline says hearing similar stories from former students who express how much they enjoyed performing their roles and how much they learned about others and themselves really taps at her heartstrings.

In addition to being a playwright, Royaline has also published a semi-autobiographical book Kandi about a young African American girl moving from the south to the north in the 1960-1970s. ME Epsilon members read and discussed Kandi with its author at a chapter meeting. After forty-four years experience, Teresa “Terry” Woodlief, FL Beta Psi, was named Elementary Art Teacher of the Year, 2020 by the Florida Art Education Association. “This award was especially meaningful,” she reflected, “because I was chosen by my peers, and there’s no tougher audience.” Recently retired, Terry serves as a Teaching Artist at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens. She currently serves her chapter as Technology Rep and coordinates virtual chapter meetings each month. “Sometimes I feel a little awkward about receiving awards, but they validate that I’m on the right path; and that encouragement fuels me to move forward.”

From the onset of her career, Terry has been considered a leader in arts education. While a senior Art Education major at UNF, she served as president of the FAEA Student Chapter. Throughout her career, she continued her professional memberships, advanced to leadership roles and currently serves on the board of Northeast Florida Art Education Association. Terry presents workshops on topics relating to teaching students with disabilities, as well as Arts and Technology Integration. As an active mentor, Terry guides novice art teachers as a professional learning community facilitator, encouraging the use of cross-curricular instruction. “I feel that veteran teachers have a responsibility to new teachers. And we’re making an investment in the future of arts education.”

Terry was awarded the FAEA Museum Educator of the Year 2013, Florida Governor’s Shine Award 2015 and the Kennedy Center’s Any Given Child Award 2018 for Excellence in Arts Teaching. She was twice a semi-finalist, and once a finalist, for Duval County Teacher of the Year, 2015. Most recently, she was awarded the Gladys Prior Award 2019 for Sustained Excellence in Teaching.

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South Carolina’s Chi Chapter celebrated their Golden Sisters with a visit and a special recognition at their homes. Geri Cutler and Diane Harwell were given 50 year pins, along with a bouquet of flowers and a special yard sign that proclaimed their service to Alpha Delta Kappa. They were also spotlighted at the Zoom meetings that have been the norm this year. Marie Mooneyham, Paula Weinspach and Ouidasue Nash were proud to represent their sisters at the delivery event. They were even treated to a “socially distant” tea with Diane. Chi sisters plan an in-person celebration for later when they may also celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of their chapter.

Brigitte Tennis of Washington Beta Iota was recently awarded the Bea Richardson Beneficial Scholarship Grant at the virtual Washington state convention. The $1,500 grant is for enhancing Brigitte’s own knowledge of Latin and its modern-day application to Italian culture and language. It is awarded biennially from the Richardson estate. Bea was a member of the Alpha Lambda chapter in the Lake Washington School District. In 2008, she designated the funds to support on-going personal or professional growth for A∆K members. Brigitte enriches the lives of her high school students through the rigorous study of Latin, as well as taking her students to Italy on an annual basis. Because of COVID-19, Brigitte delivered Latin and Italian culture studies to her students online, incorporating cooking, literature, and slideshows.

FRATERNITY EDUCATION

Altruism: Deciding What Counts

Dear Sister Altru,

Our chapter has a question-ism about altruistic projects. We have done a lot of good-ism this biennium. The collectiveism of the chapter’s list is long, but many sisters have gone over and above-ism, and we have some confusion-ism on what is the qualified-ism of our deeds for our Altruistic Report. Suffering from Skepticism, Chapter Want-to-Get-Credit

Dear Chapter Want-to-Get-Credit,

Have no fear-ism; help is here-ism. One of the purposes of Alpha Delta Kappa is to “promote educational and charitable projects and activities”. Of utmost importance is that when we do our altruistic projects, our intent is to honor our organization; we volunteer in the name of Alpha Delta Kappa.

We know learning by doing is engaging and promotes longterm memory. It helps with Brain Fog-isms, too. So let’s test our mind-isms with a little quiz. You may know more than you think. Here are some idea-isms to keep in mind. Is the item in question: • A community project • Donating goods and time • Assisting A∆K sisters in need • Volunteering to help others • Providing assistance to active teachers • Donating to scholarships • Donating to charities • Adopting a family affected by COVID

Record your altruistic donations and service hours only if they have been done in the name of A∆K.

Here’s the quiz. Circle the letters in front of the items that qualify as A∆K altruistic activities. There are 10 in all. A. Meals cooked for a sister in need.

B. Meals cooked for my family, because I usually just do clean up.

K. Donations to the food bank as part of our chapter’s monthly giving.

L. Donations to clothing drive to benefit the church collection for the homeless.

T. Recording books for the visually impaired.

U. Reading to my granddaughter and her best friend.

R. Cooking a potluck meal for the Hunger Mission.

S. Cooking a potluck dish for sisters and prospective members.

U. Donating favorite “like new” books to the children’s library.

V. Bringing used books to the library to clean out my basement.

H. Crafting holiday cards and sending them to friends in my state chapter.

I. Crafting holiday cards and delivering them to the soldiers’ home.

S. Raking the yard of the food bank property.

T. Purchasing bandaids for blisters of kids who raked my yard.

T. Serving 4 hours cleaning the house of an elderly neighbor.

U. Serving 4 hours performing my duties as an officer.

I. Taking pledges and painting birdhouses for the elderly on The Longest Day.

C. Spending 7 hours on a Habitat for Humanity Build.

D. Spending 7 hours at the mall buying an initiation outfit.

If the circled letters spell ALTRUISTIC, you are firing on all altruistic report-isms.

Pippy Rogers, International World Understanding Chairman, GA Beta Iota