Cambridge Who's Who Names Ann B. Ratay Professional of the Year in Elementary Education
Ann B. Ratay, Educator, honored for nearly 30 years of dedication

Biglerville, PA, October 14, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Ann B. Ratay, a retired Elementary Teacher from Biglerville Elementary School of Upper Adams School District, has been named Cambridge Who's Who Professional of the Year in Elementary Education. While inclusion in the Cambridge Who's Who Registry is an honor, only a small selection of members in each discipline are chosen for this distinction. These special honorees are distinguished based on their professional accomplishments, academic achievements, leadership abilities, years of service, and the credentials they have provided in association with their Cambridge Who's Who membership.

Prior to her retirement, Ann B. Ratay enjoyed a fruitful 29 years educating children. Best known for teaching elementary-level science and writing, she devoted her career to Biglerville Elementary School, where she excelled at engaging students through active participation and role-playing in her lessons. In her years as a full-time teacher, Ms. Ratay was deeply involved in a number of projects that extended beyond the classroom; these included co-creating a school-wide book publishing center for students and a butterfly garden which her students had planned and maintained themselves.

As an educator, Ms. Ratay always placed emphasis on treating her pupils like her own children and imparting valuable life lessons that are not always covered within school walls. She developed personal relationships with them as well, attending birthday parties and supporting them at dance recitals, student rodeos, wrestling matches and attending scouting banquets and Eagle Scout honor ceremonies. Having kept in touch with most of her students, Ms. Ratay derives the deepest personal satisfaction from seeing them become wonderful adults.

An alumna of Shippensburg University, Ms. Ratay earned her master of education in 1972 and her bachelor's degree in elementary education, with a concentration in English, in 1969. She also completed coursework at the University of Oxford in England. Her affiliations include Delta Kappa Gamma Society International. She is past president of her local Beta Kappa Chapter, and the Adams County chapter of the Pennsylvania Association of School Retirees . At present, she is Queen of Ladies of the Lake of The Red Hat Society. Ms. Ratay was honored with a Volunteer of the Year Award in 2008 by the Adams County chapter of PASR, with an Elementary School Science Education Award in 2003 by the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh, and with a Guinn Unger Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award from 1996 to 1997.

Now officially in retirement, Ms. Ratay spends her time substitute teaching at Biglerville Elementary School and volunteering in her own granddaughters' classes. She also serves as a teacher docent for the living history program at a one-room school. She is the proud grandmother of four girls: Olivia, McKenzie, Lindsay, and Samantha.

For more information about Upper Adams School District, visit http://www.uasd.k12.pa.us.

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