The Best and the Worst of the Week
Jamie
Treutinghas been named the top math teacher in Louisiana and -- as a winner of a National Science Foundation Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching -- one of the best in the nation. Treuting, a sixth-grade teacher at Ethel Schoeffner Elementary School in Destrehan, received her award during a recent trip to Washington, D.C., in which she met with First Lady Laura Bush.
Patrick F. Taylor
has
been named one of 70 outstanding leaders throughout the world by Toastmasters
International. The nonprofit education association cited Taylor's leadership in
spearheading the "Taylor Plan," which eventually became the state's acclaimed
TOPS scholarship program. Taylor, the CEO of Taylor Energy Company, will receive
his Communications and Leadership Award from the organization at a May 17 ceremony.
Ellis
Marsalis
has been chosen to receive an
honorary Doctor of Music degree by The Juilliard School for his contributions
to jazz and to music education. The school, which will present the esteemed
pianist with his doctorate at its May 23 commencement, noted that as former
director of Jazz Studies at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, Marsalis'
students included Terence Blanchard, Harry Connick Jr., Donald Harrison and
Nicholas Payton.
Rep.
Mitch Landrieu
is making a marked effort
to educate constituents about the earned income tax credit, a federal program
that repays low-income working taxpayers. Many who are eligible for EITC don't
know it, the Internal Revenue Service says. Landrieu bought ads explaining the
EITC and advising residents who may be eligible to contact Total Community Action
(TCA) at 827-2200. Residents can also file for the credit retroactively.
