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SALISBURY, MD---Baltimore County educator and ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ alumnus McKinley Broome received a surprise recently when, while attending an assembly with his students at Woodholme Elementary School, he was announced as the winner of the prestigious Milken Educator Award.

The Baltimore Sun likened the $25,000 prize to “the Oscars for teaching.”

The 2004 SU graduate accepted the award during a ceremony that included presentations by students; Dr. Joe Hairston, superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools; and Dr. Nancy Grasmick, Maryland superintendent of schools.

An educator for six years, he is free to use the cash prize in any manner he chooses. He receives the actual monetary award in April at the Milken National Education Conference in Los Angeles.

Broome earned his B.S. in elementary education from SU and was named Baltimore County’s Rookie Teacher of the Year in 2005. Today, he is the school’s fourth-grade chairman and helped lead his students to the state’s No. 1 mathematics and reading scores when compared to similar schools.

“When you visit McKinley Broome’s classroom, you can see the children are engaged in learning, and he demands that exemplary behavior and exemplary academic performance,” Woodholme’s principal, Maralee Clark, told The Sun. “You can see it and feel it. We call him a kid magnet. He really does inspire them to think outside the box.”

 “One of the things I try to tell the kids is that excellence is possible, and I try to be an example of that,” said Broome.

“This is a huge honor for McKinley and for Baltimore County Public Schools,” said Dr. Dennis Pataniczek, dean of SU’s Samuel W. and Marilyn C. Seidel School of Education and Professional Studies. “We are so very proud that an SU alum, the third in the last decade, has won the Milken Educator Award.”

Other recent winners from SU include Terry Smith (B.S. 1991, M.Ed. 2001), who won as a teacher at Buckingham Elementary School in Berlin, MD, in 2002, and Dana Perdue (B.S., 2000), who earned the award as a teacher at Central Elementary School in Edgewater, MD, in 2006.

The Milken Educator Award is presented each fall to exceptional teachers nominated by education departments in 48 states and Washington, D.C. Criteria considered include exceptional talent; distinguished achievement in developing innovative educational curricula, programs, and methods; outstanding ability to develop students’ character and self confidence; and commitment to professional development.

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.