Lisa Quinn, Teacher, Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School, Pushing the Envelope Award

Published: June 29, 2007, 6:50 p.m.

Lisa Quinn created the Millennium Ambassadors Program, a one-month program that invites 8th- through 12th-grade students to travel to Panama for a once-in-a-lifetime cross-cultural exchange. The program gives students the opportunity to live among the indigenous Ngobe Bugle Indians, learn Spanish and share their computer skills. While in Panama, the students keep up with other coursework via the Internet.

Quinn’s podcast (MP3, 19 MB) covers the challenges the school faces as a cutting-edge cyber school, the positive feedback from Millennium parents and students, how the program began and where it is going, and what it means to be a cyber teacher at a distance-learning school.