This note marks my final message as president of SDCTE, but this is not the last you'll hear from me. I have enjoyed the challenge of this role, and I have especially enjoyed watching the growth and progress of our alliance. Most of all, though, I have basked in the expertise and ideas all of you have shared with us as you struggled to maintain and forge ahead in your roles as language arts instructors. This fine network of teachers in SDCTE is a vital link to our continued professional and personal development. I thank you for being a part of my life as a teacher/writer.
I wish Kandy Punt, the new "pres," as much spirit and drive as it will take to see her through her new role. I also welcome Karen Harrington to our leadership team. Together with the boundless energy and enthusiasm of Dodie Bemis, these wonderful and committed individuals will see SDCTE through the coming years.
A special note of thanks to two members of our executive leadership who have refused to let the members of this organization burn out: Jim Swanson and Sharon Olbertson. No SDCTE function is complete without Jim and Sharon. Professional associations for teachers abound in the larger cities of this state, and it would have been so easy to let the other, more rural SD teachers disconnect and do their own things in their own niches. But Jim and Sharon talked to many of you, and they both remain determined in their beliefs that good things happen in small as well as in large schools in South Dakota. Their rare personal and professional commitments to SDCTE, as well as their strong desires to make our teaching lives more meaningful and directed, have made SDCTE what it is today. They are the rare, scrappy stuff of which good grassroots organizations are born. I owe them more than I can repay, but their leadership inspires me to pass on to you what we are all engaged in: the challenge to make our professional lives and our students' lives the best they can be.
Au revoir--
Sue Morrell