Except for the fact that the change would mess up a fun acronym, it might make sense to rename the Education Graduate Organization the “Education Graduate Connection.”

Incoming EGO President Jennifer LeBeau has a list of impressive goals for the upcoming year, including:  re-establishing contacts with faculty, administrators, and students; increasing connections with the Spokane, Tri-Cities, and Vancouver campuses; and making connections with other units throughout the university, as well as within the college. Jenny and her fellow officers are especially excited by the idea of engaging students, faculty, and staff in a college-wide community service project.  Read more about them and their ideas on the EGO page.

Arizona Coug kids update
A batch of thank-you letters arrived at the College of Education from those fifth graders at Palomino Elementary in Phoenix who’ve adopted WSU, inspired by some gifts from Pullman–including T-shirts that are the envy of other classes.  The notes are sweet. Here’s one from Silvia Ramirez, who has one sister, two brothers, and likes going to school:

“Thank you for the cool gifts. One of my favorite gifts is the shirt. I use the highlighter when Ms. Cook tells me to highlight key words. I haven’t used the sticky notes. We got more things than the other classes. We are learning the fight song. When we learn it, we are going to send you a video. Go Cougs!”

We’re doubly honored
Education doctoral student joan.Osa Oviawe and alum John Doty (Ph.D. ’08) are among winners of this year’s Civic Engagement Awards. The Center for Civic Engagement honored joan for her service with the YWCA of WSU, where she serves as board president, as well as her efforts to aid the education of poor Nigerian students through the Grace Foundation, which she founded.  Doty is the founder and director of READ for LIFE, a program he started as research toward his doctoral degree. The nonprofit provides free tutoring for kids in kindergarten through sixth grade.  On top of his volunteer work, John has a day job coordinating the Academic Enrichment Center/Computer Lab in WSU’s Office of Multicultural Student Services.