The School of Education would like to congratulate six of our very own: Esther Huynh, Heather Wakeley, Stephanie Mercier, Brianna Kane, Michelle Makela and Abigail Frank for being one of the 20 Nyack students honored by The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference to be on the fall 2011 All-Academic Team. All six Education students have a GPA of at least 3.5 and are at least a sophomore student and athlete. Their names, GPA and major are highlighted below.

Men's Soccer:

Felix Horn, Junior, (3.92) - Business Administration

* Gavin Penny, Senior, 3.84) - Accounting

Mikey Robinson, Junior, (3.57) - Business Administration

Women's Soccer:

Esther Huynh, Sophomore., (3.82) - Early Childhood

Heather Wakeley, Sophomore, (3.94) - TESOL

* Jennifer Jordan, Senior, (3.94) - Psychology

# Stephanie Mercier, Junior,  (3.91) - Childhood Education

* Susanna Bicknell, Senior, (3.91) - Business Administration

Volleyball:

Brianna Kane, Sophomore, (3.50) - Childhood Education

Michelle Makela, Junior,  (3.83) - TESOL

Tawnie Savage, Junior,  (3.54) - Mathematics

Men's & Women's Cross Country:

* Ben Wallin, Senior, (3.68) - Religion

Jordan Wilhelm, Senior, (3.63) - Vocal Performance

# Stephen Mitzel, Senior, (3.81) - Accounting

Stuart Guild, Senior  (3.99) - Religion

Abigail Frank, Junior, (3.55) - Childhood Education

Alethea Brown, Junior., (3.92) - Vocal Performance

Bethany Allison, Sophomore, (3.62) - Nursing

# Deborah McCarthy, Senior, (3.62) - Accounting

LeeAnn Mailly, Junior, (3.81) - Religion

Commented Latia Deylii, Nyack's head recruiter and men's & women's cross country assistant coach, "It is amazing that out of 187 awarded CACC student-athletes from 14 conference teams, 20 individuals represent Nyack College."

*: 3-Time Honoree

#: 2-Time Honoree

On Tuesday, December 13th, the faculty and staff of the School of Education hosted a Christmas dinner party for the Education students. The evening gave students a times to relax and take a break from studying before finals. Good fellowship and food, a sense of community and a change of pace was felt at Hilltop. Following the dinner, the Childhood Education peer mentors, Abby Frank, Sara Suranyi, and Rebecca Wahler, hosted a Christmas cookie decorating party for all students. A good time was had by all.

The December Graduate Brunch was held on Monday, December 12, 2011 in the Hudson Room on the Rockland Campus. President Scales prayed a blessing over the graduates and encouraged them to always be themselves, using their strengths to make a difference in the world.

Pictured above: Dr. Frank Tuzi, Chair of the TESOL Department and Professor Sue Bucci, Chair of the Childhood Education Department. Student teachers, Ryan McDermott, Deidra Padgett, Emily Drake, Mariah Howe, Colleen Gilfoy, Cynthia Crawford, Sarah Welch, and Rebecca Cypher Collins. (Gretchen Tobias- not pictured)

Dr. Christine Buel, Assistant Professor of Education, successfully defended her dissertation and was awarded the Ed.D. from North Central University. Congratulations, Dr. Buel!

Dr. Frank Tuzi, chair of the TESOL department, current president of CELEA announces that the Christian English Language Teaching Conference will be held on January 27-29^th, 2012 in Hong Kong at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The conference, which is hosted by the Christian English Language Educators Association focuses on giving participants an opportunity to explore how their Christian faith informs, impacts, or infuses into teaching, research, classroom practices, advocacy, and SLA.

  Please visit http://celtconference.org/goals.html and http://www.celea.net for more information.