Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - The University of Wisconsin-Platteville chapter of Kappa Delta Pi, an international organization for education majors, is a model of community involvement and professional development in this area. John Nkemnji and Rea Kirk, UWP professors of education, advise the group.

In 2007, KDP won the Oak Leaf Award, in recognition of outstanding service to the UWP campus community, and also won the KDP Chapter Program Award for its community involvement accomplishments. They are currently applying to headquarters to be considered for the Achieving Chapter Excellence Award.

UW-Platteville's KDP chapter, with 200 local and alumni members, works to recognize outstanding educators, promote professional development and promote literacy.

During the school year, the group participated in activities with area children to promote literacy like reading holiday stories aloud at the Platteville Public Library and dressing up a KDP member as Clifford, the Big Red Dog to visit the children at the UWP Children's Center. Casey Cordts, KDP vice-president, laughed as she explained, "Clifford doesn't go to the kids, he lets the kids come to him."

The organization also donated books to children in Jamaica and Cameroon, Africa; partnered with UWP's Engineers Without Borders chapter to provide books to children in Ghana, Africa; and provided gifts of winter clothing to an adopted family at Christmas.

On Wednesday, April 1, and Thursday, April 2, the group will sponsor the Scholastic Book Fair from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Doudna Hall, Room 135, in order to raise funds to attend the KDP Biennial Convocation in Orlando, Fla., later this year. Approximately 15 members attended the fall 2007 convocation in Louisville, Ky., and had a great experience.

Professional development is the focus of the convocation and a variety of seminars are offered, many about diversity in the classroom. "It's a wonderful opportunity for an undergraduate to present to an international audience in a profession setting," said Livia Daentl, president of UW-Platteville's KDP chapter.

Kirk added that diversity knowledge is very important in education, because classrooms need to accommodate everyone's needs.

Daentl and Cordts will be presenting at an early childhood seminar on Saturday, April 4, in Ullsvik Hall from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., where each will discuss classroom diversity topics like culture, disabilities, ADD/ADHD and autism.

Area teachers, student early childhood educators and childcare providers will attend the seminar to network, share ideas and learn new skills.

Another way KDP cultivates professional development is by attending webinars that are offered through the headquarters office. Interested members usually gather together as a group to watch the webinars. Each one covers a different topic and they will see the "Response to Intervention" webinar next.

To promote community involvement, the group will walk in the Relay for Life on Friday, April 17, in Williams Fieldhouse on the UWP campus. Their team name is "Schoolhouse Rocks" and this will be their third year of participation.

Every year, KDP has received the award for selling the most daffodils prior to the event. The daffodils are a symbol of hope for a cure for cancer and their sale raises funds for cancer research.

All Relay for Life teams will walk for approximately 15 hours with two members from each team walking at all times.

"It's an inspirational event and it's also a great way to get involved with the community," Daentl said.

Cordts added, "It's very emotional when the cancer survivors start the first lap all wearing purple shirts."

KDP is an honorary organization and students must be working toward enrollment or be currently enrolled in the UWP School of Education. A 3.0 GPA must be maintained as well. Anyone interested in joining KDP, or for more information, may contact Daentl at daentll@uwplatt.edu.

Contact: Livia Daentl, president, Kappa Delta Pi, daentll@uwplatt.edu Written by: Barbara Weinbrenner, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, weinbreb@uwplatt.edu