The VOICE of WAFLT
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2021 Awards/Grants by Victoria Carter 2021 WAFLT Distinguished Language Educator Each year, WAFLT honors one of its members as the Distinguished Language Educator. This award recognizes excellence in language teaching and/or administration, long-term achievements, and service to WAFLT and the language profession at the local, regional, and national levels. WAFLT is proud to present Dr. Jody Reif Zeimann as the 2021 WAFLT Distinguished Language Educator honoree. Jody is a Spanish instructor in the Berlin Area School District, where she has taught Spanish since 1980. As her multiple nominators state, her passion for teaching is apparent. She is wholly committed to ensuring that her students learn beyond the mechanics of the language, expanding their experience to recognize their roles as global citizens. Jody serves as an example for her students with her own commitment to lifelong learning which culminated in her PhD in Philosophy in Curriculum Leadership at Marian University in 2016. Her former students, some of whom have become her colleagues, state what an impact Jody has made on all of them, through her passion for the language and culture, her passion for lifelong learning, and the travel experiences she has given them. Jody is constantly giving back to her own community of students as well as to the community of world language educators on a local, state, regional, and national level.
Dr. Jody Reif Zeimann
Jody’s contributions to WAFLT, including serving currently as the MOPI Training Coordinator, as well as to her colleagues, and especially to her students embody the very best of the WAFLT Distinguished Language Educator Award.
WAFLT is proud to announce this year’s recipient of the Anthony J. Gradisnik Award, Dianne Seyler, the La Crosse–Epinal Sister City Committee Chair. For over 30 years, the La Crosse–Epinal Sister City Committee has fostered an exchange between the cities of La Crosse, WI and Epinal, France. Originally started as a cultural exchange as a result of Trane Company being based in La Crosse and having a factory in Epinal, it has grown into an annual student exchange program, official government delegation visits, and athletic and music exchanges. What is most impressive about this committee is that even though the official exchange is between the city of La Crosse, members have always included French programs from Holmen, Onalaska, and Aquinas High Schools.
2021 Anthony J. Gradisnik Award Each year, since 1998, WAFLT has had the honor of presenting the Anthony J. Gradisnik Award, which commemorates Mr. Gradisnik’s exceptional enthusiasm and advocacy for language education. Mr. Gradisnik, who began his career as a Spanish Teacher after World War II, was a foreign language curriculum specialist for Milwaukee Public Schools from 1959 to 1979. This award is presented to an individual or group—especially from outside the world language teaching profession—in such areas as international education, early language learning, and creative initiatives in language education.
Dianne Seyler
As stated by the nominator: Dianne, in her role as Committee Chair of the La Crosse–Epinal Sister City Committee, has helped promote the mission of promoting a deeper cultural understanding between the two cities. The presence of the sister city relationship is ever present
