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The Awards Ceremony
The
Night had finally arrived. Educators in tuxedoes and sparkling
evening gowns gathered in front of the ballroom where the Awards Ceremony would
take place. Excited conversations wafted from the little knots of
honorees as they awaited the signal for the festivities to
begin.
And then, like beckoning arms, the doors
swung open. The Night had begun.
As the
guests of the recipients found their way to their seats, we looked around
surprised, for the state superintendents and the 2005 Milken Educators were
nowhere to be seen. Just as we were about to go investigate, trumpets
blared and the Grand Entrance began. The recipients had rehearsed
well, and had assembled behind the scenes with hardly anyone
noticing.
Milken Educator Awards Senior Vice
President Jane Foley provided the introductions and the state-by-state
commentary as each contingent, smiling and waving, trooped in behind their
state flag. The colors were presented by the Dunbar Senior High
School Junior ROTC, and "God Bless America was sung by an amazing
fifteen-year-old named Kyle Ahn.
The electricity
began to build. Television personality Josh Binswanger welcomed us as
the master of ceremonies, and Milken Family Foundation Trustee Rosey Grier
invoked the blessing. We began our meal—wonderful food—but our hearts
were still full of the moment at hand.
After
dinner, Kim Burke-Ables, 2003 recipient from the District of Columbia, brought
us up to date on her amazing career, which included being named 2006 District
of Columbia Teacher of the Year. Actor/filmmaker Robert Townsend, CEO
of the Black Family Network, entertained us with his version of the Award
notifications in the fall, which he had so enjoyed being a part of.
Lowell Milken introduced his family and gave us a little background on the
genesis of the Milken Educator Award.
And remember
what I said in my first
blog entry about the annual performance by young artists
that brought tears to our eyes and the audience to its feet? This
year was no exception.
The Dulaney High
School Chamber Choir, from the school where new Milken Educator Kelly Smith (MD
'05) teaches, performed two beautiful old traditional
songs.
Kyle Ahn returned to sing "I Believe I
Can Fly," and the audience responded warmly. Then another
fifteen-year-old marvel, Kaitlin Kiyan, came onstage to sing a song of her
own. Again the audience was thoroughly impressed and responded
warmly.
And just when we thought we had been richly
entertained by the young singers' solo performances, both were called back
onstage. They performed a duet of "The Greatest Love of
All" that was absolutely astounding, generating spontaneous applause at
several points during the performance. They left the stage to
thunderous applause, and we were amazed to hear it was the second time they had
performed together. The first time had been the previous day.
One rehearsal.
Milken Family Foundation Co-Founder
Michael Milken followed these performances with a speech about the importance
of families and teams, and welcomed the new Milken Educators to his extended
family. Then the major ceremony began.
While
a short video piece was shown highlighting many of the announcements across the
country, the recipients silently vanished once again. As the video
came to an end, we could see Lowell and Mike Milken silhouetted on the
stage. As the lights came up, a voice began announcing the names of
the 2005 Milken Educator Award recipients.
One by
one, the new members of the Milken Educator family made their way across the
stage. A quick embrace, a snapshot of the presentation of the check,
and then each took his or her place in the growing crowd of
recipients. By the time Wyoming had joined the throng, hundreds of
flash bulbs winked, music filled the air, and the 2005 Awards Ceremony was
complete.
Once again, the excitement hung heavy in
the air. Once again, the new recipients wandered and chatted and
obviously wished that the night would never come to an end. Slowly,
they seemed to come back to reality, and after a flurry of last-minute photos,
they wended their way back to their rooms, still in a daze over the experience
they had just had.
The Night was over once again, but the magic never dies…
For more information on the Conference—including the agenda, bios of Conference presenters, photos and videos—please visit the Milken Family Foundation Web site at www.mff.org.
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5/21/06 9:11 PM
Wow! What a week! I left elated, energized, and exhausted. Every session challenged my thinking and made me analyze my teaching and thoughts on education. It was absolutely one of the best conferences I have ever attended and a real professional development opportunity. And the closing ceremony was nothing short of amazing!!
Now that I have had a chance to sleep for a couple of days :), I have spent a little time thinking about the experience.
I left with a couple of thoughts that I will keep with me always: the first is the MEA motto – "the future belongs to the educated." The second is one I wrote down on my paper during one of the sessions – "quit looking for the excuses and find the solution!" The third is one is a question that was alluded to many times – "what am I going to do now to push myself, my school, my district and my state to make a difference?"
I want to say a special thanks to every member of the crew and staff of the Milken Family Foundation. Every single person was helpful, nice and genuinely excited for all of us new members of the “family.” The Milken people seemed to get as much of a kick out of the experience as we newbies did, and that made it even more fun for me! Thanks to you all!
Marie