Published: May 25, 2006 12:18 am      

Cooley earns Air Force award

Aaron Cooley of Decatur is a 2005-06 nominee for the Air Force Technology Education Outstanding Teacher Award.

Cooley, who teaches agricultural production at the Newton County Career and Technical Center, was nominated by his students through the Technology Education Web site, www.teched101.com. Technology Education publishes a 12-month teacher planning guide that’s distributed to more than 30,000 high school educators nationwide.

The students submitted a short essay about why their teacher should receive the award. Some 250 teachers were nominated.

Cooley will now compete against the other nominees for the Technology Education Outstanding Teacher of the Year award. The winner will have his photo and biographical profile in the 2006-07 planning guide, which is distributed at the beginning of the new school year.

The Air Force has supported Technology Education’s shop-safety program for more than 20 years by providing free safety posters and related materials.