March 21, 2016 (Fort Worth, Texas) – Camp Fire First Texas honored child care professionals at a dinner and awards ceremony on March 10 at Ridglea Country Club in Fort Worth. More than 250 attended the event including 37 finalists for the 2016 Excellence in Child Care awards.
An annual highlight of the early childhood professional’s calendar, Celebration of Child Care Champions awards dinner recognizes early childhood professionals who play a vital role in the development of thousands of area children age birth to five while providing an opportunity to focus public attention on the importance of child care providers.
This year’s event centered on the importance of encouraging youth to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) concepts both inside of and outside the classroom. Early Education Specialist Al Stewart, M.Ed., gave an interactive keynote address. J.R. Labbe, Vice President, Communications & Community Affairs of JPS Health Network, served as the evening Master of Ceremonies.
The event culminated announcing this year’s recipients of the 2016 Excellence in Child Care awards*. They are as follows:
Administrator of the Year
Hugh Bolton, Virginia Gallian Child Development Center
Family Child Care Provider of the Year
Lorraine Perry, Forever Innocent Home Child Care
Teacher of the Year
Heather Salas, Virginia Gallian Child Development Center
Young Professional of the Year
Beth Sieberhagen, Virginia Gallian Child Development Center
Phyllis Jack Moore Professional Development Award **
Sharon Burnett, Frog Street Press, Inc.
*Nominees are submitted through an online process from the community including: parents, teachers, community members and employers. Once submitted, to be considered for the award a nominee must submit a portfolio of work to demonstrate accomplishments in the area in which they were nominated. These portfolios are then reviewed by a committee of professionals who score and ultimate select the winners in each category.
**The Phyllis Jack Moore Award honors individuals who have impacted professional development in the Tarrant County community and who exemplify Phyllis’ passion, dedication and hard work. The award is named for Phyllis Jack Moore. Her forty year career spans a wide variety of settings from helping to develop the first Work/Family Program at Camp Fire, serving as the initial state staff development coordinator to North Carolina’s first public school kindergartens, owning a retail educational materials and teaching center, to establishing an Austin outreach to parents of newborns program through the University of North Texas.
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