The BAHS Alumni

Distinguished Educator Award

One of the goals of the Bangor Area High School Alumni Association is to recognize the many dedicated teachers and administrators who have served the Bangor Area School District over its long history. As with our other categories, nominations for this prestigious award will be accepted throughout the year for the next annual presentation. Either one teacher of one administrator will be selected each year by the selection committee. Nominees for this award need not be graduates of Bangor Area High School, but must have served as a teacher or an administrator in the Bangor Area School District.

 
2001 Distinguished Educators
 
George Ott, Sr. - Educator
George O. Ott, who was born in Johnsonville in 1902, was a science and vocational agriculture teacher at Bangor High School from 1927 to 1967. During his teaching career at Bangor High School, Mr. Ott started the vo-ag program inspiring hundreds of young men to seek excellence in farming. In 1935, he founded the Bangor Chapter of the Future Farmers of America. During his career he nurtured 10 American Farmers, 1 Regional Star Farmer of America, 67 Keystone Farmers, and 5 Regional State and Star Farmers of Pennsylvania. The Bangor Chapter of the FFA was one of the most outstanding chapters in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
 
Mr. Ott was also involved in numerous church and civic organizations. He was co-founder of the Blue Valley Farm Show, treasurer of his church for 30 years, and taught the Adult Bible Class for 40 years. He was also the recipient of many awards including the American Legion's Distinguished Service Award, the Bangor Exchange Club's Golden Deeds Award, and the Sertoma Club's Service to Mankind Award.
Sande Ivey - Educator

Sande Ivey, a biology teacher and ocean scientist, has been a teacher of biology at Bangor Area High School since 1989. During her teaching career she has taught auto mechanics, physics, chemistry, general science, computer programming, and biology.
 
In addition to her outstanding work in the classroom, she was one of three Pennsylvania teachers selected in 1998 to go on a scientific expedition in the Pacific Ocean onboard the A/V Atlantis and the Alvin Submersible. On this expedition she studied the hydrothermal vent community and the organisms that live in the vents of that region. Several of her responsibilities included species and life cycle identifications.
 
Onboard the Atlantis, Mrs. Ivey also conducted her own research project, which focused on bacteria that grow in the deep-sea vents. These bacteria are so large that they can be seen with the human eye and may have links with interplanetary life.
 
Mrs. Ivey has the distinction of having been selected as a member of the National Science Foundation Committee for Ocean Excellence in Science Education.
 
This past summer she was selected as a member of an educational team to produce an Imax movie, TV shows, and magazine articles about the hydrothermal vents for National Geographic. She again boarded the A/V Atlantis and Alvin where she traveled to the deep ocean of the Atlantic off the Azore Islands.
 
As the only teacher on the expedition, it was her responsibility to help develop film-related study guides for teachers, students, and families. She has designed a poster containing learning activities and will also assist in developing and conducting teacher-training workshops.
 
Mrs. Ivey is a graduate of Notre Dame Academy in Villanova and West Chester University. At West Chester she had the honor of being named the most outstanding student teacher. Mrs. Ivey resides with her husband and family in Quakertown, Pennsylvania.

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