Colton School-to-Career Coordinator Recognized

BEND – Diane Parham, School-to-Career Coordinator for Colton School District, received the Shannon DeLateur Award for Career Achievement for 2012 during the Oregon Association for Career and Technical Educators (OACTE) annual conference.  The Shannon DeLateur Award recognizes lifetime contributions to career development in Oregon. It is given to someone who is retiring or has retired. It honors people who, like its namesake, made significant impacts in their work life within their sphere of influence. (Shannon DeLateur introduced the Oregon Department of Corrections to career development and CIS.) Cheryl Buhl, Director of CIS, presented the award.

Diane celebrating her award with Jeanne Yerkovich and Cheryl Buhl

The award was given this year to recognize almost two decades of work at a small school district with exemplary leadership within that district, the region, and the state. Diane Parham has been the CIS Site Coordinator for the high school and middle school during that tenure as well the district’s point person on all things “career-related.” In addition to overseeing the design and delivery of the district’s exemplary program to address the state’s graduation requirements and prepare students for life after high school, she has served her region and the state in numerous capacities. She has served as chair and board member of OACTE, the state’s professional association, and also in the Tri-County School-to-Careers Consortium, Clackamas Technical Education Consortium Steering Committee and Youth Services Implementation Team, and Oregon Department of Education’s Perkins IV Task Force, to name just a few. Her district was part of Cohort A for the Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Framework and a New Century Schools. With her as project coordinator, the high school was named a Model School by the International Center for Leadership in Education, Council of Chief State School Offices, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2010. Although she never served on the CIS Board, she was a member of the CIS Task Force on Fees in 2000 and received the CIS Board’s Les Adkins Award in 2002.

In presenting the award, Ms. Buhl stated that “We are saddened that Diane is retiring at the end of the 2012 school year but are thrilled to recognize her achievements.”