Patricia E. Wilkinson Named National Insurance Educator of the Year for 2002

Indianapolis (May 28, 2002) The Insurance Education Institute (IEI) has presented Patricia E. Wilkinson, a business teacher at Stark County High School in Toulon, Illinois, the James L. Osborne Insurance Educator of the Year award for 2002. This national award is named in honor of the founder of IEI and presented to a high school teacher who demonstrates excellence and creativity in providing insurance education to our nation's high school students. Eligibility was limited to the nearly 2,000 high school teachers to date who have graduated from one of five insurance institutes sponsored by IEI and who have taught insurance during the past school year in a course leading to a high school diploma.

As winner of the fifth annual competition, Mrs. Wilkinson has been invited to serve on IEI's National Advisory Council of Secondary Teachers (NACST) and to be a judge for next year's competition. Mrs. Wilkinson received a monetary award in recognition of her achievement in education in a presentation before family and peers at a school board meeting on May 20. IEI Board member, Sharon Heaton, President of Heaton Agency in Pontiac, Illinois, was on hand to present the award. Stark County High School also received a monetary award.

Mrs. Wilkinson's entry into the competition included teaching strategies, lesson plans, and student activities created to teach high school students about insurance, enabling them to become knowledgeable insurance consumers in their adult lives. In preparation for this national competition, Wilkinson attended the Insurance Education Institute at Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois, in 2001.

The Insurance Education Institute is a nonprofit charitable organization devoted to improving public understanding of the role of insurance in society. The foundation pursues this mission primarily through the education of secondary school teachers and students.

For more information, contact IEI at 1-800-IEI-4811 or email info@IEI.org.