Teachers From Three States Cited As Teachers Of Excellence By The National Road Safety Foundation And American Driver & Traffic Safety Education Association

NEW YORK, July 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Driver education teachers from Hawaii, South Carolina and Vermont have been selected by their peers nationwide as Teachers of Excellence. The honor, with a cash stipend, comes from The National Road Safety Foundation and the American Driver & Traffic Safety Education Association (ADTSEA). 

The 2021 Teachers of Excellence are Joell Kerr, who teaches at Hilo High School in Hilo, HI; Robert Suggs, owner of Championship Driving School in Elgin, SC and a teacher at West Florence High School, Florence SC; and Karren Meyer, who teaches at Leland and Gray Union High School in Townshend, VT.

Teacher of Excellence honoree Joell Kerr has taught driver education on the Big Island of Hawaii since 2008 at Waiakea High School and Hilo High School, where she also teaches secondary math.  She says she comes from a drag racing family, and she used that passion to create High School Drags, a program on the island that reduces drag racing on the streets by providing a place where teens can race safely under supervision.  She has also taken the lead in testing and implementing the new driver education curriculum throughout her state.

Karren Meyer has just completed her fifth year teaching driver education at Leland and Gray Union High School in Townshend, VT.  Part of why she became a driver education teacher is to help others avoid the pain she felt when she lost her older brother to a drunk driver when he was 17. She feels government, supported by businesses, must do more to encourage others to become driver education teachers. Meyer is president-elect of the Vermont Driver & Traffic Safety Education Association.

Robert Suggs, owner of Championship Driving School in Elgin, SC, has been teaching driver education for 24 years.  He also teaches at West Florence High School in Florence, SC.  He got his passion for driver education from an early mentor Mickey Tripp, his supervisor at Jordan Driving School.  "Every student matters," his mentor told him. "Teach them like they are your own children."  Suggs says driver education teachers "influence the sons and daughters of America so they can grow old and share their experience."   

"These outstanding teachers we are recognizing represent our best, and they inspire their peers to be passionate and effective teachers of this important life skill," said Oregon's Rich Hanson, a past ADTSEA president who heads the selection committee. "We are proud to honor them as the 2021 Teachers of Excellence."

All three Teachers of Excellence are being honored at the ADTSEA national conference in Knoxville this week, where they will present innovative lesson plans to their peers.

"Driver education teachers are dedicated to the young people they serve and often serve as role models in ways that go far beyond driver training," said David Reich of The National Road Safety Foundation and a member of the ADTSEA Board of Directors.  "These Teachers of Excellence have demonstrated true passion for the important work they do to make driving safely a lifelong experience."

The Teacher Excellence Awards, given by The National Road Safety Foundation, are named in memory of Dr. Francis Kenel, a traffic safety engineer, former director of the AAA, author of driver ed teacher training materials and a mentor to countless driver education instructors.

The American Driver and Traffic Safety Education is the professional association that represents traffic safety educators throughout the United States.  As a national advocate for quality traffic safety education, the group creates and publishes policies and guidelines for driver ed and conducts conferences and workshops for teachers.  It was instrumental in creating the new driver education curriculum standard issued recently by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The National Road Safety Foundation (NRSF), a non-profit organization, has supported ADTSEA's Teacher Excellence Awards program for ten years.  For nearly 60 years, NRSF has created driver education programs and materials for free distribution to teachers, police, traffic safety agencies, youth advocacy groups and others.  NRSF has programs on distraction, speed and aggression, impairment and drowsy driving.  The group also sponsors contests for teens in partnership with SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions), FCCLA and Scholastic, as well as regional teen contests in partnership with auto shows in Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, DC.  To view and download free programs and for more information, visit www.nrsf.org.

 Contact:  David Reich    914 325-9997 
                                       [email protected]

SOURCE The National Road Safety Foundation