Marcia Allen Named National Insurance Educator of the Year

(Indianapolis IN, May 14, 2003) The Insurance Education Institute (IEI) has selected Marcia E. Allen, a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at Murphysboro High School in Murphysboro, Illinois, to receive the James L. Osborne Insurance Educator of the Year award for 2003. 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 2,130 high school teachers to date who have graduated from one of seven insurance education institutes sponsored by IEI over the past 15 years and who have taught insurance during the past school year in a course leading to a high school diploma.

Mrs. Allen'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. Fulfilling a pre-requisite to entering this competition, Mrs. Allen completed the IEI sponsored Insurance Education Institute at Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois, in 2002.

As winner of the sixth annual competition, Mrs. Allen 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. She will receive her award in recognition of her achievement in education in a presentation before family and peers at a school board meeting on May 20. Carol Silvey, Program Coordinator, will be on hand to represent IEI and to present the award. Also on hand to represent the institute at Illinois State University will be Jim Jones, Director of the Katie School of Insurance and Financial Services, Illinois State University, Normal. Murphysboro High School will also receive an award on behalf of Mrs. Allen.

The Insurance Education Institute is a nonprofit charitable organization founded in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1988 whose goal is to improve the understanding of insurance and its role in society through the education of teachers and students.

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.