It is always good to get professional awards. And when they come from your peers, they are even more special! At this year’s Information and Technology Educators of Minnesota (ITEM) conference in Minneapolis, CMLE was proud to have not one but TWO winners!!

Angie Kalthoff, @mrskalthoff,is a Technology Integrationist in St Cloud School District 742. She won the award for Technology Support  She was joined by her very proud Superintendent Willie L. Jett II. Right after the ITEM conference ended, she continued her advocacy for libraries and technology work by leading sessions at the Code.org workshop at the North Dakota Association of Technology Leaders conference in Minot!

Our own CMLE Board President Maria Burnham, @MariaBurnham4 ,Technology Integrationist at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School, won the award for Library Media Specialist of the Year. She was joined by her equally proud Principal Erich Martens.

Both Angie and Maria have been very active in the library community of central Minnesota; as well as both reaching out to work with their peers. I can tell you that the applause for both women was thundering, as the conference attendees recognized the work they have done to improve service and technology for their communities. It was great to see, and to be a part of, the celebration of the achievements of so many interesting library people.

Take a moment to applaud their achievements! It is great to work in a community with high-achieving people; we all benefit from their example, and we can all work out new strategies to keep our skills sharp and our library services aimed helping our patrons!!