Nordell honored for special education

Josh Nordell, a special education teacher at Sisters High School, has been selected as one of the 10 Circle of Excellence winners in the OnPoint Prize for Excellence in Education contest. Nordell is the only finalist from east of the Cascades.

Nordell has created a life-skills program from the ground up for the most severely disabled students in the school. In the classroom, Nordell is responsible for the full-time education of ï¬ve special-needs children ranging in age from 13 to 19, in addition to two remedial math classes. His life skills program includes weekly shopping trips, adaptive martial arts, visits from a trained therapy dog, skiing with Oregon Adaptive Sports, and a job-skills program.

"Josh is an amazing teacher," says Dave Huni, one of the parents who spearheaded the nomination. "He's created programs that all the special-needs children in the district can benefit from. Our son Max is still at the middle school, but he participated in the ski days and goes to martial arts every week. It's really helped with his attitude towards school, his social skills, everything."

As one of the finalists, Nordell's classroom will win a minimum of $250. The Educator of the Year, selected from the Circle of Excellence, receives mortgage payments for a year plus $5,000 for his school.

The Sisters community can vote for Josh Nordell as Community Choice Winner by going to www.onpointprize.com and clicking on his name.