Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/654069
16 ADVOCATE | SPRING 2016 Around AEA Alexander Sanchez, an 8th-grade student at Morgan Maxwell Elementary School was awarded the Arizona Education Association Foundation for Teaching and Learning Mary Kay Haviland Angel Fund Grant during a ceremony held at the school on December 15, 2015. In addition to the grant, Alex was also awarded a Young Heroes Award from Captain Barrett Baker of the Tucson Fire Department for his bravery during a house fire that occurred at his residence on the night of December 8th. The awards were presented before Alex's grandparents, Mary and Alex Sanchez , and an audience made up of community members, teachers, staff, family and Ms. Voirin's 8th grade class, Alex's homeroom cohort. The AEA Haviland Grant is awarded to students of Association members in Arizona for the purpose of supporting a student's academic or personal needs. One of Alex's teachers, Tucson Education Association (TEA) member Katherine Eddleman- Bultman, submitted the grant on Alex's behalf after learning that his grandparents were caring for him full time. TEA President, Jason Freed, was on hand to help present the grant. The day before receiving notification that the grant had been funded, Bultman learned that a fire had broken out in the Sanchez's home. Young Sanchez was awakened by the sound of a light bulb popping in his room just before midnight. He looked up and saw a fire growing in the ceiling along the electrical wires attached to the light. After alerting his grandparents and siblings of the fire, he and his grandmother got an extinguisher which Alex used to keep the fire at bay until fire fighters arrived on the scene. The Young Heroes award was presented to Sanchez for his bravery during a fire by Barrett Baker from the Tucson Fire Department. Also in attendance were Principal Rosanna Ortiz-Montoya, Counselor Denise Mazanek, Social Worker Maria Garcia- Flores, Dean of Students Dante Franco, and Learning Support Coordinator Barrett Fox. On January 28 – 30, 2016, local Association presidents and leaders attended the first an- nual AEA Organizing Institute. The agenda for the three-day training covered how to understand power and conduct a power analysis; discover and act on the self-interest of your local and its membership; identify sustainable talent for leadership; build local leadership teams that think and act strategically; and most importantly, how to engage in real conversations about the mission and action of your local association. Trainers included AEA executive officers, staff, and local leaders, in addition to presenters from AEA partners, including Wyoming Education Association Membership Organizing Specialist Greg Herold, and the Executive Director, Petra Falcon, and, Operations Director, Tony Navarrete, from Promise Arizona (PAZ). Attendees committed to attending another training in the spring, where they will participate in a field experience. AEA Foundation for Teaching and Learning Presents Mary Kay Haviland Angel Fund Grant to Tucson Student Organizing Training for Local Leaders Organizing Institute