Colorado State University – Pueblo Future Teachers Academy attracts top educators 

Pueblo- A National Teachers Hall of Fame inductee and several Colorado State Teachers of the Year will be on the Colorado State University – Pueblo campus next month hoping to lure some of the state’s brightest students into the teaching profession.

In an initiative to recruit talented youth into the profession of teaching, the Southern Colorado Teacher Education Alliance, in partnership with CSU - Pueblo, will host the Summer Academy for Future Teachers, July 11-15. In its sixth year, the Academy attracts the best and brightest high school juniors and seniors from across Colorado to come and learn more about teaching and develop their potential as outstanding educators.

Highlights of the Academy follow:

Wednesday July 13, 1995 NATIONAL TEACHERS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE: MARGE WEST  10:30-11:30 a.m.., CSU-Pueblo, Library Wing 329

• In 1987, Marge West became the first blind teacher in Colorado to be allowed to continue to teach in the regular classroom with a guide dog, “Rush,” and full-time aide. Her experiences and extraordinary accomplishments as an incredibly talented and inspirational educator has lead to not only her awards as the 1994 Colorado Teacher of the Year, and 1994 National Teacher of the Year Finalist, but also her induction into the National Teacher Hall of Fame in 1995. West has taught first graders at Glennon Heights Elementary School in Lakewood, Colorado since 1969. Prior to that, she held teaching assignments in Killeen, Texas; Great Bend, Kansas; Fort Wainwright, Alaska; El Paso District 11 in Colorado, and Weisbaden, Germany. She earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Northern Colorado and completed post-graduate work at Louisiana State University and the University of New Orleans.

Thursday July 14, The Real World of Teaching, 10 a.m., YMCA, 625 Monument Ave., Pueblo
• Participants will try their hands at teaching! Throughout the week, participants will learn about effective teaching strategies and will collaboratively design lessons to teach students at YMCA’s Summer Youth Camp (Grades K-7) hosted at the YMCA.

Friday, July 15, 2005 Colorado Teacher of the Year, 11:30 a.m., CSU-Pueblo Occhiato University Center West Ballroom.
• The culminating event of an inspiring and action-packed week, Academy participants and their families will join the Academy for a farewell luncheon. 2005 Colorado Teacher of the Year Kathy Heavers of Montrose will be the keynote speaker.


Colorado State University - Pueblo is a regional, comprehensive university emphasizing professional, career-oriented, and applied programs. Displaying excellence in teaching, celebrating diversity, and engaging in service and outreach, CSU-Pueblo is distinguished by access, opportunity, and the overall quality of services provided to its students.