At its fall meeting, held Oct. 14 at the Mahoning Valley Country Club, the Carbon Chapter of the Pennsylvania Association of School Retirees (PASR), presented practitioner scholarships to classroom teachers and honored members for outstanding service to the chapter, as well as the community.

Jill DeLong, member of the Educational Support Committee, presented the scholarships to four teachers for special classroom projects. Recipients are James Hull, a teacher at Panther Valley High School; Bridgette Gorman, second-grade teacher at S.S. Palmer Elementary School; Christi Marchetti, a teacher at Lehighton Area High School; and Thomas Weidner, a teacher at the Lehighton Area Middle School.Hull will use his award to purchase a webcam and microphone for this students to communicate with students in Argentina through the use of Skype.Gorman will use her minigrant for multicultural awareness, with a Chinese New Year celebration for 85 students, as the culmination of a unit on Chinatown.The minigrant for Marchetti, who works with Books of Hope, an international nonprofit program, will allow her students to create books for students in Uganda and Haiti.Weidner will be purchasing a one-year subscription to a computer program called Smart Music. This is an interactive program used by music educators throughout the country, and is designed for both vocal and instrumental students.Weatherly Area High School teacher Katie Leach, and Richard Miller, support staff, were also honored as the 2010 recipients of the Lauretta Woodson Recognition Awards for commendable service to the Weatherly Area School District.Janet Hall, Community Service chairwoman, presented Carbon PASR President Sandra Kokinda and James Wentz, with Volunteer-of-the-Year pins in recognition of their outstanding service as volunteers in the community. Kokinda devoted many hours as a volunteer in education, while Wentz dedicated himself to youth, and also served as a chaplain of the Lehighton United Veterans Organization.Vince Spisak was recognized as Carbon's 2010 inductee into the PASR "John J. Dillon Service Hall of Fame" for his numerous contributions to the chapter.Phyllis Seems, past director of Region 2, installed the new officers of the chapter for 2011-2012. They include, Marjorie Balliet, president; Janet Hall, president-elect; and Lucinda Sabol, vice president.JoAnn Bailey, Region 2 director-elect, presented Kokinda with the PASR Chapter President Pin.Kokinda announced that at the state convention, held earlier this month, the Carbon chapter received the highest recognition from PASR for its accomplishment of the 2009-2010 state goals. She thanked members for their support in all of the chapter's endeavors.During the meeting, Kokinda was also honored by members for her leadership as chapter president during from 2005-2006 and again during the 2009-2010 term.