 - The Lander School Board honored two Fremont County School District 1 employees this week for earning statewide awards during the Wyoming School Boards Association annual conference last month in Casper.){kind=link}
(Lander, WY) – The Lander School Board honored two Fremont County School District 1 employees this week for earning statewide awards during the Wyoming School Boards Association annual conference last month in Casper.
The first to be recognized was Language Literacy Specialist Sue Cessna, who received the WSBA’s Champion of Education Award for her efforts to enhance student engagement with literacy throughout Lander schools.
Cessna was originally hired to work as a Speech Language Pathologist at Baldwin Creek Elementary School, Superintendent Mike Harris said – but as the district’s Student Services Director at that time, he could tell right away that she “had a lot to offer” beyond that initial position.
“We started talking about how to bring the ideas and concepts of language instruction – what a speech language pathologist does – to a broader audience in general education,” Harris said. “She took that and ran with it and has done amazing things (that have) filtered out now throughout the district.”
Trustee Aileen Brew said her children are among the students who have benefited from Cessna’s “guidance and brilliance.”
“(They) had the wonderful good fortune of having her help them with their reading and their speech and just engage with them outside of the classroom and one-on-one time,” Brew said. “Her work in moving our district forward while chasing new and better ways of engaging students with literacy has been just remarkable, and I think we’ve all benefited from that. …
“Thank you so much for everything you’ve done to make this district a really special place for a lot of kids.”
Cessna said she felt “grateful” and “humbled” to receive the Champion of Education award this year – but she also took time this week to commend the school board and her coworkers in the district for supporting her work.
“It’s fabulous to be recognized for work that (is) your passion,” Cessna said. “But as we all know in education, any kind of recognition is about collective effort, and you see collective effort here before you tonight. … So important here are the people sitting in this room and all the quality educators (who) threw their doors open to us to share our new learning.
“Because of them, language and literacy skills have grown and become stronger and stronger. They’re doing things that I didn’t even imagine. They are the true implementation scientists. So I’m so proud to bring this award, not just for myself, but home to Baldwin Creek Elementary.”
Swenson
The school board also recognized former Administrative Secretary Carol Swenson this week for earning the WSBA’s new Outstanding Service Award for administrative professionals “who have served their local school boards with distinction,” Harris said. 
Swenson worked in the district office for 17 years, Harris said, and during that time she was “an integral part of making sure that everything kept moving,” spending “countless hours taking care of board members … getting reports to the Wyoming Department of Education, breaking in new superintendents, and much, much more.”
Swenson said she felt “very honored” to receive the inaugural Outstanding Service Award.
“It really did mean a lot to me, and I really do appreciate it,” she said. “I’ve loved working for all of you. I love my job, love my district and this is just a really nice honor. So thank you.”