The Learning Early Network and the Childcare Network, sponsors of the Learning Early Network Conference are pleased to announce the winners of two very special awards — the Jan Carpenter Award and the Friends Educator Award.
    Donna Olinger, a teacher at the Knoxville Head Start Center, is the winner of the Second Annual Jan Carpenter Award and Tara Repsher of the G&G Learning Center in Rome is the winner of the First Annual Friends Educator Award.
    Jan Carpenter was a wonderful person who gave everything in her power to children. She was an outstanding teacher in the Bradford County Daycare System for many years. 
    The award in her honor was initiated in 2007 by the Learning Early Network to celebrate the work of outstanding early childhood educators in the Bradford County Region.
    Donna Olinger has worked with children in the Bradford-Tioga Head Start program since 1980.
    The letter nominating Donna stated, “Donna is very in tune to each child’s level, needs and strengths. She is devoted to working with parents, co-workers, nurses, BLaST, etc. to make sure that the child’s needs are met.”
    As the 2008 winner, Donna received a $100 saving bond from the family of Jan Carpenter, a one-day visit from an early childhood artist of the Bradford County Regional Arts Council, and her name on the Award plaque that hangs in the Sayre Theatre lobby.
    The Friends Educator Awards was initiated this year by the Towanda Friends Meeting (Quakers). The award honors teachers who:
    • identify the strengths of each child and work with those strengths to build a caring teacher-student relationship
    • create a safe learning environment that enhances each child’s ability to learn in various styles and encourages imagination and creativity.
    • manages care and/or classroom teaching on the basis of cooperation, reason and mutual respect and relates equally to children of diverse backgrounds.
    Tara Repsher was selected winner by a Friends panel. The nominating letter states, “Tara displays love and affection for all of the children at the Center.  Her ability to identify with child, disabled or not, is encouraging to all.”
    As the 2008 winner, Tara and the G&G Learning Center will each receive a check for $500 from the Towanda Friends Meeting.
    For information about these awards, contact Brooks Eldredge-Martin at (570) 268-2787. Award nominations for the 2009 year can be submitted after next January and updated award criteria will be located at the www.learningearly.com.