Kathleen Berger, second from right, with her fellow School Success Team members, was awarded the 2009 Champion Educator of Character by the Academy for Character Education at The Sage Colleges in Albany. Shown above are, l-r, Eileen Satterlee, Annette Trapini, Wendy Dorset, Maya Trawinski, Kathleen Berger and Brook Greco.

March 30, 2009 - Third-grade teacher Kathleen Berger and Blue Creek Elementary School were recognized as 2009 Champion Educators of Character by the Academy of Character Education at The Sage Colleges in Albany.

This was the second year in a row that Blue Creek received the award, and a good deal of the credit goes to Berger, her colleagues say.

Berger was nominated by Eileen Satterlee, a Blue Creek counselor, who described Berger as "the driving force of positive character and leadership at Blue Creek Elementary School."

"We are an educational community that is built upon the values of respect and responsibility, and Kathy was and continues to be at the heart of this," Satterlee wrote in her nomination letter. "Kathy knows that character is not about doing a 20 minute lesson once a week; it is about believing in values and living by those values."
 

Berger began conducting character education programs long before it was mandated by New York State and long before it was even called character education. During her 21 years at Blue Creek, she helped develop a myriad of character education initiatives, such as the School Success Team, the PeaceAble School program and others. Berger also strives to improve herself by attending and presenting at character education conferences, and she mentors new teachers about Blue Creek's programs.