News from CASE V
Rafe Esquith to give conference keynote
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Rafe Esquith will be the keynote speaker at the opening of the 31st annual CASE District V Conference on Sunday, Dec. 11, 2005 at the Chicago Sheraton Hotel & Towers.
An award-winning grade school teacher, Esquith is living proof that patience, understanding, love and imagination can work miracles. By any measure, Esquith's students have been wildly successful. They have opened for the Royal Shakespeare Company, been hired by Sir Peter Hall to perform A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Ahmanson in Los Angeles and have appeared at the Globe Theater in London.
Amazingly, his students are just 10 years old, and many are learning English as their second language. His student actors live in the inner city, and are mostly from immigrant families. But Esquith doesn't just teach his students Shakespeare. Through hard work and dedication, he also helps them to achieve academic success right across the board.
Many of Esquith's students have gone on to Ivy League colleges. Esquith recounts this incredible story in a wonderful book, There Are No Shortcuts: Changing the World One Kid at a Time. Esquith's teaching awards include the Walt Disney American Teacher Award for National Teacher of the Year and Oprah Winfrey's Use Your Life Award.
In an inspiring presentation, Esquith will be joined on stage by a group of his student performers, demonstrating to even the toughest of audiences that one individual really can make a difference.
about case v
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) is an international association of education advancement officers, who include alumni administrators, fund raisers, public relations managers, publications editors, and government relations officers. The ultimate goal of advancement professionals is to enhance their institutions by bringing in support — be it in the form of money, alumni loyalty, public esteem, or new students. In turn, CASE's purpose is to help these people advance the cause of education. It does this by offering information resources and training opportunities to aid its members.
CASE District V includes members from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.