P E O P L E
CONGRATULATIONS ERIN WEED
Teacher Goes to Space Camp
Sharon Ervin Publishes Second Book Sharon Thetford Ervin’s ( -Oklahoma)
Conni Crittenden, center, receives her wings. She poses with flight instructors and Flat Stan — a teaching prop that has traveled around the world both with Conni and solo.
Conni Goldsmith Crittenden (BBMichigan State), a science teacher at Williamston Elementary School in Williamston, Mich., attended a special session of Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., in October. Conni was a 1998 winner of the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, the nation’s highest honor for K-12 mathematics and science teachers. She joined 19 other past recipients to attend four days of intensive workshops sponsored by the Space and Rocket Center Education Division and NASA. The elementary teachers worked with and critiqued curriculum materials covering everything from hydroponics to robotics to rocketry. They also trained for and completed a two-hour simulated shuttle mission with Conni as mission commander. “I ‘flew’ the shuttle orbiter, deployed mission specialists to work on the Hubble Telescope and docked with the International Space Station before returning home,” says Conni. “I also designed our mission patch, a tradition for all missions in the space program.” Conni is no stranger to distinguished honors. In 1995, she won a $41,500 Christa McAuliffe Fellowship, which she donated to Williamston Elementary. Conni served as chapter adviser to Michigan State (BB) for more than two decades. She currently is a special governor.
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What Alpha Phi was recently ranked in the same category as actress Katie Holmes, ice skater Michelle Kwan and singer Ashanti? Erin Weed (ZA-Eastern Illinois) is one of 10 recipients of the 2002 CosmoGIRL! of the Year Award. She is featured in the December 2002/January 2003 issue of the teen magazine as "The Avenger" for creating the Girls Fight Back self-defense program. For more information about Erin, visit www.girlsfightback.com.
Television Phi Joins WABC Lisa Colagrossi (BIWest Virginia) is a feature reporter and substitute anchor at the top-rated WABCTV in New York City, the nation’s largest television market. She joined the ABC Lisa Colagrossi Network’s flagship station the Sunday after the attack on the World Trade Center. Her career began in her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, and included work at stations in Alabama and West Virginia. Lisa spent six years as the main anchor in Orlando, Fla., before joining WABC. Lisa’s awards include two Suncoast Regional Emmy Awards® for reporting and five Emmy® nominations. She also won numerous awards from the Florida Associated Press and the Society of Professional Journalists.
second published effort, Bodacious (PublishAmerica, Inc. ISBN 1588514943, $21.95), was released in September. It is the story of a 26-year-old woman who is kidnapped during the robbery of an Ozark Mountains convenience store on Halloween. Her captors turn her over to a reclusive, mute, Sharon Ervin mountain man whom, one captor assures, will murder her humanely. In her attempts to escape, she inadvertently puts herself in one life-threatening situation after another. Sharon’s first novel, Jusu and Mother Earth (PublishAmerica, Inc. ISBN: 1893162877, $19.95), was published in 2000. A veteran newspaper reporter, Sharon has been published in several magazines and was a contributor to The Sooner Story 18901980.
“Service Above Self” Julie Anne Beckman ( Nebraska/Kearney) was elected to The Rotary One Club of Chicago board of directors. Founded in 1905, The Rotary Club’s mission is to actively strengthen Julie Beckman Chicago and international communities through philanthropy, fellowship, involvement and example. It’s motto: “Service Above Self.” Julie has been a member of The Rotary since 1999. She is director of graduate admission and international student affairs at Chicago’s John Marshall Law School.
ALPHA PHI
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