MICHAEL CARTON
Nominated by Bea Brasel, WQPT
Special Events & Volunteer Coordinator
Michael Carton is a one-of-a-kind. He is the kind of person that you can count on, is passionate about PBS and his local PBS station, is an educator, cares about people, and simply is fun to be around. For 14 years, WQPT has benefited from his volunteerism, It is our pleasure to nominate Michael for his demonstrated leadership on WQPT's newest event - Imagination Station.
Imagination Station is a fundraising event which was free to the public. Held on March March 20-21 (2015) it included three events: 1) VIP Event, 2) Character Breakfast and 3) Imagination Station Main Event, reaching over 2,000 in attendance and raising over $40,000. Planning was undertaken by a volunteer committee and Michael was the Activities Chair for all the educational activities. He led a sub-committee of eight and together they presented 76 fun activities for children and families to enjoy. He was responsible for creative activities based on the educational principles of a given program. For example: Dinosaur Train featured an activity where the children were paleontologists, MotorWeek had the children create automobiles with legos. He and his committee came up with fun activities that incorporated STEAM(science, technology, engineering, art & math).
Michael spent eight months planning the event and easily gave more than 100 hours to the project. In addition, he supplied art materials and science equipment for many of the stations from his own collection. On the days prior to Imagination Station he came to the event location to set up each room with his committee. On the day of the event he made sure all stations ran smoothly and all rooms were stocked. Because of his leadership skills we received many compliments on how well organized the event was and how much fun all the activities were.
Michael started with WQPT as a college student and was a member of our first class of WQPT-PBS Ambassadors. Since then he has volunteered for nearly every fundraiser and friend-raiser WQPT is involved in. He was named "WQPT Volunteer of the Year" in 2009.
Michael is so passionate about PBS that he uses it in his classroom every day. He teaches 3rd grade and this year he won the Master Teacher Award by the Dispatch Argus newspaper. He regularly uses PBS LearningMedia for his daily curriculum. He and his class also entered the 2011 PBS Teachers Innovation Award and were awarded second place. He believes that shows like Nova, NovaScience and Saturday Science help engage students in STEM subjects.
WQPT is VERY fortunate to have a devoted volunteer and teacher like Michael. He strongly supports PBS and uses their educational resources every day! I strongly recommend him for this prestigious award.
View the video of the Award Presentation for MICHAEL CARTON.
Nominated by Bea Brasel, WQPT
Special Events & Volunteer Coordinator
Michael Carton is a one-of-a-kind. He is the kind of person that you can count on, is passionate about PBS and his local PBS station, is an educator, cares about people, and simply is fun to be around. For 14 years, WQPT has benefited from his volunteerism, It is our pleasure to nominate Michael for his demonstrated leadership on WQPT's newest event - Imagination Station.
Imagination Station is a fundraising event which was free to the public. Held on March March 20-21 (2015) it included three events: 1) VIP Event, 2) Character Breakfast and 3) Imagination Station Main Event, reaching over 2,000 in attendance and raising over $40,000. Planning was undertaken by a volunteer committee and Michael was the Activities Chair for all the educational activities. He led a sub-committee of eight and together they presented 76 fun activities for children and families to enjoy. He was responsible for creative activities based on the educational principles of a given program. For example: Dinosaur Train featured an activity where the children were paleontologists, MotorWeek had the children create automobiles with legos. He and his committee came up with fun activities that incorporated STEAM(science, technology, engineering, art & math).
Michael spent eight months planning the event and easily gave more than 100 hours to the project. In addition, he supplied art materials and science equipment for many of the stations from his own collection. On the days prior to Imagination Station he came to the event location to set up each room with his committee. On the day of the event he made sure all stations ran smoothly and all rooms were stocked. Because of his leadership skills we received many compliments on how well organized the event was and how much fun all the activities were.
Michael started with WQPT as a college student and was a member of our first class of WQPT-PBS Ambassadors. Since then he has volunteered for nearly every fundraiser and friend-raiser WQPT is involved in. He was named "WQPT Volunteer of the Year" in 2009.
Michael is so passionate about PBS that he uses it in his classroom every day. He teaches 3rd grade and this year he won the Master Teacher Award by the Dispatch Argus newspaper. He regularly uses PBS LearningMedia for his daily curriculum. He and his class also entered the 2011 PBS Teachers Innovation Award and were awarded second place. He believes that shows like Nova, NovaScience and Saturday Science help engage students in STEM subjects.
WQPT is VERY fortunate to have a devoted volunteer and teacher like Michael. He strongly supports PBS and uses their educational resources every day! I strongly recommend him for this prestigious award.
View the video of the Award Presentation for MICHAEL CARTON.