1982 Award Winners

Biographies below were included in the program for the year listed here and were current as of that time.

Dorothy Arensman

Teacher for the Visually Impaired
Southwest Kansas Area Cooperative District

Arensman's duties take her to 17 western Kansas schools. Since 1972, she has been an itinerant teacher for the visually impaired in the Southwest Kansas Area Cooperative District in Dodge City.

Arensman earned her B.S. degree in elementary education in 1970 from Saint Mary of the Plains College. She earned her M.S. degree in education of the visually handicapped in 1974 from the University of Northern Colorado. Arensman, a Texarkana , Ark. native, was graduated from Brownwood (Tex.) High School.

Arensman believes one should "accept each child as a unique human being who is capable of making progress if the learning environment meets his individual needs and ensures his success."

She is active in a number of professional and civic organizations and programs, including the National Braille Association, the Council for Exceptional Children and its division for visually handicapped, the American Association of University Dodge City Women, P.E.O., and the Dodge City Arts Council.

Arensman serves as a resource instructor at Fort Hays State University and is a field reviewer for the Department of Education's office of special education. She also helps with the Count-Your-Kid-In preschool screenings for the handicapped. During her career, she has received numerous awards and recognition for her work. She was featured in the article "Dorothy Arensman - Angel of Light ," a story published in Lady's Circle magazine in June 1979.

One colleague says: "After working with handicapped children for a number of years, most of us in special education develop a 'professional detachment' to insulate ourselves from the emotional pain of constantly seeing disabled children and distraught parents. Dorothy has never done that."

She and her husband, Ben, have four children: Ranae, Kris, Benjy and Jason.

Frances Kohrs

Kindergarten Teacher
Winfield Scott Elementary School
USD 234 Fort Scott

Kohrs began teaching in 1937 and has taught kindergarten for the past 19 years at Winfield Scott Elementary School in Fort Scott.

Kohrs is a graduate of Pittsburg State University where she earned her B.S. degree in education in 1959 and her M.S. degree in reading in 1965. She is finishing work on a specialist in education degree at Pittsburg State. Kohrs, a Coffeyville native, was graduated from Inman High School.

Kohrs believes that "within every student of today is a productive citizen of tomorrow."

She is active in the local, state and National Education Association, the local and state branches of the International Reading Association, the Bourbon County Unit of Retired Teachers, the American Association of University Women, Delta Kappa Gamma International Society, and the parent-teacher organization.

She is also active in the Bourbon County Arts Council, the Historical Preservation Association , the Starlite Extension Homemakers Unit, and the Lioness Club.

Kohrs is an honorary Homemaker of America and Future Farmer of America. She received recognition as Business Woman of the Week in 1972, and she has been awarded the University of Kansas Certificate of Appreciation for 25 years of teaching.

"As a colleague, I highly respect her," one colleague says . "As a parent, I am thankful she has opened the door to a love of education for my kindergarten child."

Another adds: "Anyone who likes her work and maintains a high standard in it , as well as achieving high goals, is master of it."

She and her husband, Milton, have one daughter, Annette Telfer.

Bill Saunders

Industrial Education Department Head and Instructor
Abe Hubert Junior High School
USD 457 Garden City

Saunders , a 26-year teaching veteran , is the industrial education department head and instructor at Abe Hubert Junior High School in Garden City.

Saunders earned his B.S. degree in 1955, his M.S. degree in 1956 and his Ed .S. degree in 1967 all from Pittsburg State University. Saunders grew up in Pleasanton and was graduated from Pleasanton High School.

"You've gotta reach 'em to teach 'em" is his philosophy of education.

"I have found that students will achieve only what I expect; therefore, I have high expectations of my students," Saunders adds.

Some of his ability as a master teacher is apparent through programs he's initiated on the junior high level. One unique idea is the home construction program. Although high school students have been building homes for years, Saunders believes his is the only program for 12- to 15-year-olds.

His interests and activities reach far beyond his classroom assignments. He is active in the Kansas Energy Education Program, the state and national American Vocational Ed4cation Association and Industrial Education Association , the National Builders/ Contractors Association, the Finney County Museum board of directors , the Finney County Historical Society, the Regional Far Southwest Developmentally Disabled Advisory Council , the Boy Scouts, and United Presbyterian Church.

He was named the National Humanities Faculty's Master Teacher, and he is an honorary member of the Future Farmers of America. In 1981, Saunders was awarded the University of Kansas certificate for 25 years in education.

Saunders and his wife, Marilyn, have two daughters, Ann and Susan.

Marjory Pease Sharp

English Teacher
Pittsburg High School
USD 250 Pittsburg

Sharp has taught English at Pittsburg High School since 1963, except for a leave from 1977-79 to serve as president of the Kansas branch of the National Education Association. She was the first president in Kansas history to be elected to a second consecutive term.

Sharp earned her B.S. and M.S. degrees in 1952 and 1961, respectively, from Pittsburg State University. A Pittsburg native, Sharp was graduated from Pittsburg High School.

She incorporated one of her mother's philosophies into her teaching and her life: "If you do not adjust to today, then you will not adjust to tomorrow."

"Marj's credentials, awards and accomplishments are not impressive; they are overwhelming," one colleague says.

Her environmental cobwebs program, a day which brought youth and adults of all ages together to learn from one another, was an immediate success in the community.

She is a member of several professional and civic organizations, including Alpha Sigma Alpha, Delta Kappa Gamma, Kappa Kappa Iota, Sigma T3u Delta, Sigma Alpha Iota, and the First United Methodist Church. In addition, she was the first teacher to serve on the board of trustees of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System. Sharp was among the first group of American educators that toured the People's Republic of China.

During her career, Sharp has earned numerous awards and honors. She was named American Association of University Women Outstanding Junior and Woman of the Year by the American Business Women's Association. She was also given the Sunflower Award from the governor's committee on the employment of the handicapped and a 10-year award from the YWCA for her work with Y-Teens.

Sharp has two sons, Samuel and Bernard, and a daughter, Derrillyn Harbeston.

Patricia Tippin

Fifth and Sixth Grade Teacher
Eugene Field Elementary School
USD 383 Manhattan-Ogden

Tippin has been teaching at Eugene Field Elementary School since 1966. She is teaching a combination fifth and sixth grade class during the 1981-82 school year.

Tippin earned her B.S. degree in 1962 and her M .S. degree in 1968 from Pittsburg State University. A Parsons native, Tippin was graduated from Parsons High School.

Tippin says she has sincere respect and admiration for each of her students and feels the conveyance of this respect for individuals is of utmost importance in teaching."

She has developed numerous activities for students over the years. The most popular of the activities is the economics project in which students form their own corporations. Students are responsible for selling stock, purchasing and selling merchandise, and then dissolving the corporation with a loss or profit.

She has been active in many professional organizations, including Phi Delta Kappa, Delta Kappa Gamma, the Manhattan Unified Education Association, the Kansas and National Education Association, the elementary curriculum council, the spelling/ writing committee, and the gifted and talented creative parent/ teacher committee. Tippin is also active as a Sigma Sigma Sigma alumnae, a member of the Kiwanis Queens, and a member of the First Presbyterian Church.

She has received several honors during her career. She won the Parsons Teachers Association Scholarship, the Jaycees Outstanding Young Educator Award, and a Commendation of Excellence in Elementary Teaching in 1981. She was also named the USD 383 nominee for Kansas Teacher of the Year in 1981.

Her husband, Doug, is also a teacher.

Kenneth Trickle Jr.

English and Humanities Teacher and English Department Chairperson
Salina Central High School
USD 305 Salina

"Kenneth Trickle is a multi-talented person who could've succeeded in a variety of professions," says one colleague. "Fortunately, for hundreds and hundreds of students and for us all , he chose education."

Trickle is an English and humanities teacher and English department chairperson at Salina Central High School. He has been on the Salina Central faculty since 1966.

He earned his B.S. degree in secondary education in 1959 and his M.S. degree in curriculum and instruction in 1978 from Kansas State University. Trickle, a Lamar native, was graduated from Miltonvale Rural High School.

"Teaching excellence requires a totality of commitment," Trickle believes. "This commitment begins within the classroom but then transcends those walls to extend to the entire school, to the community, and to the teaching profession."

Aside from his role as a classroom teacher, Trickle and his wife, Mary Anne, sponsor an annual Christmas party for members of the previous year's humanities class.

Trickle is active in numerous organizations, including the National Council for Teachers of English, the International Reading Association, Phi Delta Kappa International, and the local, state and national chapters of the National Education Association. He is also a member of Trinity United Methodist Church.

Trickle has earned honors from Phi Alpha Theta honorary history society and the Salina Central Parent-Teacher Association. He was also a finalist for the Kansas State Department of Education's Teacher of the Year Award in 1981.

"Ken meets and mixes well with people of all ages," one friend says. "Anything he does, he does in a first rate manner, a quality greatly needed in an age of mediocrity."

Elizabeth Voorhees

Business Teacher
Emporia High School
USD 253 Emporia

"Liz" Voorhees has been teaching business courses at Emporia High School since 1966, except for a leave during the 1972-73 academic year when her daughter, Laurie, was born.

Voorhees earned her B.S. degree in business education from Emporia State University in 1964. She also earned her M.S. degree in business education from E-State in 1967. A rural Americus native, Voorhees was graduated from Americus Rural High School.

"She believes her first concern is to her students," one colleague says. "She believes each class period should be a meaningful and worthwhile experience, and she prepares carefully for each class."

Voorhees has been the advisor of the Emporia High Future Business Leaders of America Association for 15 years. Several of her students have won FBLA offices on the state level She is currently serving a two-year term as state FBLA conference chairperson.

"She is always in control - always professional," according to a fellow colleague. "She demands and receives 'respect, but, at the same time, she has good rapport with the students."

Voorhees is active in several professional and civic organizations, including the United Methodist Church, Village PT A, Willing Workers 4-H Club, American Business Women's Association, Kansas Business Association, Delta Pi Epsilon, and the local, state and national branches of the National Education Association.

"She gives her time to both students and faculty," a colleague says. "She also gives her resources to others. No materials or ideas are hers to keep. To be in the same school as Liz is to truly 'teach with' someone."

She and her husband, Frank, live on Route 5 in Emporia.