Mary Koscinski, Adult High School Diploma Program Coordinator for Mineral County School District, has received the Mountain Plains Adult Education Association’s 2014 Award of Excellence for the State of Nevada. The award was announced Monday, April 28 at the MPAEA annual conference in Santa Fe, N.M.
The Mountain Plains Adult Education Association serves members in a nine-state region. The original Charter and founding policies were developed in 1945.
The four original states were Colorado; New Mexico; Utah and Wyoming, with Arizona; Idaho and Nevada joining in 1961 and North Dakota in 1988.
The Association has grown from the vision of a few hard-working pioneers to become a creative and effective force in the field of adult and continuing education.
It is one of the oldest regional adult education organizations in the United States.
For more than a half century, MPAEA has been on the cutting edge of adult education as a state, regional and national imperative.
The Award of Excellence is to honor an individual who has made significant contributions to the advancement of adult education at the state or local level.
The nominating committee had this to say about Koscinski:
“Mary Koscinski is a dedicated adult educator who is very caring and passionate about her job and the adult students that she serves. She is located in a rural area of Nevada which offers few services to its citizens living in the area.
“Mary is creative and goes beyond the normal duties of an adult educator to reach her adult students and provides them with many services and dedication.
“She works with other programs to reach out and find adult students in need of educational assistance in her rural location. Her small but mighty adult program in rural Nevada is one to be recognized and complimented.
“Her tireless dedication to adult students in Nevada is difficult to be duplicated. She is well respected by her fellow adult educators within the State of Nevada.”
Mountain Plains Adult Education Association President Kathleen Jameson will present the award to Mrs. Koscinski on Wednesday, May 14, in the Adult Education Room of the Funk District Services Center at 751 A St., at 5:30 p.m. Please join us for a reception in her honor from 5:30 until 7 p.m.
