Awards & Recognition
Administrator and Pathfinder Award Information
2022 Administrator and Pathfinder Awards
Congratulations to our 2022 Administrator and Pathfinder Award recipients honored at our President’s Dinner the evening before the Fall Conference.
Administrator Award Recipient 2022
Tina Mahaney
Director of Technology, Educational Data and Digital Learning
Gill-Montague Regional School District
As well as the technology director, Tina is also a leader amongst the Administrative Team. In some districts the technology director only weighs in on items directly related to technology. This is not the case with Tina. She is a leader that the entire Administration Team looks to for feedback, insight and support. During the pandemic Tina noticed that teachers needed extensive professional development related to the flood of online resources and the need to teach remotely. She shifted an elementary technology teacher into the role of Technology Instructional Coach. Tina then focused on the infrastructure and support of the students and families at home. Tina has always been a director that focuses on instruction and integration. It is not enough for educators to have access and devices, Tina ensures there is learning and professional growth for all faculty and staff. She sees the big picture as well as the details. As Jeanne Powers, who nominated Tina says, “Working with her is a gift and I value her leadership and support of my work everyday!”
Pathfinder Award Recipients 2022
Jennifer Keller
4th Grade Teacher/Building Technology Assistant
Jordan Jackson Elementary School, Mansfield Public Schools
Jennifer, working with building administration, has created a dynamic learning space for students in grades 3-5. She has added major STEM components to the curriculum by creating a STEM lab using an empty classroom. The space is organized by grade level and includes tools for makerspace activities. It includes robots, cubelets, Legos and Makey Makeys. She is currently working on a space for a green screen studio. She shares lessons and ideas to support the work done in the lab. She is providing after school professional development and has gotten all 35 classes into both the lab and the space with cameras and animation software. She designs STEM challenges and also ties lessons to literature. She was inspired to bring Hour of Code to the school by working with other like minded leaders in the building. She also involved the parent community, seeking volunteers to support the efforts in the cafeteria which she named Coding in the Caf. Jenn also has been a leader with her own fourth grade staff. As soon as school closed due to the pandemic, she created a Google Classroom which showed the staff who did not know how to use the tool. There was a clearing house for staff to share lessons and ideas with students. She created a school wide activity involving QR codes. She had the 5th grade create the food web and teach others about it. The webs were then shared with the 3rd and 4th grade classrooms. As Dr. Rayna Freedman, who nominated Jenn says, “Her students love her, parents adore her and we are lucky to have her!”
AJ Melanson
Educational Technology Director
Milton Public Schools
From the moment AJ started in Milton he created different committees. He values everyone’s thoughts and opinions on how technology is run in Milton. There is a team of teachers that are devoted to helping integrate technology in the district. There is a personalized learning team that observed other schools that are experts in the field. The technology task force enlists tech specialists as well as family members to help with the vision for technology in the district. His ability to truly care and listen to other ideas makes technology integrating better in the district. One of his greatest passions is for personalized learning. He sees the value in it and how technology plays an important role. He offers PD sessions for teachers and has teachers observe other teachers and of course, created a personalized learning committee. Both Joyce White and Jennifer Van Hill who nominated AJ believe that what also makes AJ stand out is his handling of student’s data privacy. He joined the Student Data Privacy Consortium and has promoted digital citizenship at all levels where in the elementary schools Milton follows the Common Sense Media curriculum. He has taken the district from no devices to every student who wants one to have their own device.
Jennifer St. Michel
School Librarian
Dr. Kevin M. Hurley Middle School, Seekonk Public Schools
Jenn goes above and beyond to share her knowledge with her colleagues. She has sat with several of the staff to build individual websites for their classrooms, including extracurricular activities and summer reading. Jenn works with the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion team to use technology to quantify the number of books that are representative of all cultures in her library. She encourages teachers to use engaging technology such as the green screen and AR. Jenn helps outside of school time to help the drama club produce a performance in which interactive panels were used. She volunteers her time at the Seekonk Library and is devoted to enhancing the quality of the library for all residents. Jenn is also a member of the Massachusetts School Library Association where she is on the Virtual Influencer committee and the Judi Paradis Award Committee. Michele Graf nominated Jenn and states, “She deserves this award because she is a paragon of leadership and inspiration when it comes to technology in the classroom.”
Past Administrator Award Recipients
Past Pathfinder Award Recipients
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