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Jean Berthiaume of Harwood Union High School in Duxbury, Vt. says, "Vermont Public Television has its finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the community."

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National My Source Award for Education

Vermont Public Television (VPT) has received a My Source Community Impact Award for Education from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

John King, Vermont Public Television president, receives the Community Impact Award for Education from CPB president Pat Harrison (left) and senior vice president of Education and Children’s Content, Dr. Susan Zelman.

VPT president John King accepted the award at a ceremony March 7th in Washington, DC. The ceremony was part of the CPB/PBS-hosted Council of Chief State School Officers Legislative Conference. Also attending was Vermont’s commissioner of education, Armando Vilaseca.

The My Source Community Impact Awards for Education were created by CPB to recognize public television stations for their commitment to providing educational services to learners of all ages and abilities, as well as for the services the stations provide to teachers, parents and caregivers.

For its local project, VPT partnered with two Harwood Union High School teachers and their students in Duxbury to explore ways to integrate community-focused learning with VPT’s local programming. In February, 2008, teacher Jean Berthiaume’s social studies class took part in a live “VPT Public Square” program that debated extending the term length for Vermont’s governor. Students participated as a live studio audience that posed questions directly to panel members, and continued the debate as part of their classroom curriculum. In June, also as a “Public Square” broadcast, VPT screened a new film produced by Harwood students, under the guidance of Maureen Charron-Shea, about the day-to-day struggles faced by the disabled. Following the film, the students also convened a live, on-air panel discussion about those issues.

About the project, King said, “Along with lifelong education, fostering civic and community engagement is an important part of VPT’s mission, and we saw this partnership as a viable means to promote that message, particularly among a younger audience. And the students got an important lesson in real-world community participation. The project also allowed us to explore new ways for public television to collaborate more effectively with the education community, and the folks at Harwood were great to work with.”

“Education is a core value of public service media, on air, online and in the community,” said Pat Harrison, president and CEO of CPB, who presented the awards. “CPB congratulates Vermont Public Television for this important commitment to community and our country through education.”

About CPB: CPB, a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,100 locally owned and operated public television and radio stations nationwide.