Top Educator to Keynote the 10th Annual Phoenix Challenge Awards Banquet

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Dr. June Atkinson, superintendent of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction for the State Board of Education, will be the keynote speaker for the 10th Annual International Phoenix Challenge High School Competition awards banquet on March 30, 2007.

The two-and-a-half-day flexographic competition sponsored by the Phoenix Challenge Foundation takes place each year on the Harper Campus at Central Piedmont Community College. The banquet will take place at the Double Tree Hotel (formerly Wyndham Gardens Hotel), located at 2600 Yorkmont Road in Charlotte, starting at 6:00 p.m.

Dr. Atkinson is the first woman and the 23rd person elected to the office of superintendent in 154 years. She has authored two books, “Help With Computers” and “Exploring Business and Computer Careers,” and has addressed education and business groups in 43 states.

Before her election, she was chief consultant and director in the areas of business education, and career and technical education at the Department of Public Instruction during much of the past 30 years. Prior to that she was a business teacher at Myers Park High School in Charlotte.

The Phoenix Challenge Foundation, chaired by Bettylyn Krafft, invites high school students enrolled in flexographic classes throughout the United States and Canada to compete each year in the competition, with all expenses paid by the foundation. This year, 48 students will contend for the top honors, which include a $1,000 scholarship and the Harper Cup for display at their school. There are 24 teams composed of two students each, traveling to Charlotte from Canada, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Michigan, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

For more information on the Phoenix Challenge Foundation, visit www.phoenixchallenge.org