Region I
James Berman
Delcastle Technical High School
Wilmington, Del.
James Berman may live in Delaware, but his peers claim he lives at his school. Berman has served as a SkillsUSA advisor at Delcastle Technical High School in Wilmington since 2003. The culinary arts instructor has received numerous accolades, including the Walmart State Teacher of the Year award and the Governor’s Award for Community Service. He was also a semifinalist for the Top Teacher Award on the popular “Live! With Regis and Kelly” television program. Berman consistently goes beyond the call of duty as a teacher, actively engaging his students in community service activities, participating in safety projects and more. Berman’s strength as a teacher is reflected in his graduates, who typically demonstrate high levels of leadership and success in their careers. 

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Region II
Debra Peabody
Union Grove High School
McDonough, Ga.
Debra Peabody is an architectural/engineering drawing instructor at Union Grove High School in McDonough, and she’s served as a SkillsUSA advisor for 23 years. Peabody’s teaching methods have been called “innovative,” and she recently demonstrated her continual desire to improve her own skills in order to help her students improve theirs by becoming a SkillsUSA State Certified Trainer. She has worked hard with SkillsUSA Georgia’s leadership team for the last five years, and has organized a multitude of service projects that have benefitted her students and the surrounding community in myriad ways. Her tireless recruiting efforts have also brought more members into the organization. Technical skills, leadership, professional development: Peabody offers the whole package to her students.

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Region III
Angela Haley
Oakland Technical Campus Northeast
Pontiac, Mich.
A cosmetology instructor at Oakland Technical Campus Northeast in Pontiac, Angela Haley has served as a SkillsUSA advisor for nearly 17 years. Haley is known for the passion she brings to her classroom, a passion fueled by her love of her students and her dedication to their success. Respected and admired as a leader and mentor by students and peers alike, Haley was a former SkillsUSA member as a student and worked as a professional cosmetologist before becoming a teacher. Both experiences helped her understand the importance of technical and employability skills development, and she strives for excellence in both, evidenced by her students winning medals not only in cosmetology, but in leadership areas like Job Skill Demonstration, Prepared Speech and Customer Service.

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Region IV
Larry Batson
Tulsa Tech
Tulsa, Okla.
A SkillsUSA advisor for 16 years, Larry Batson is an electrical technologies instructor at Tulsa Technology Center. Batson’s success as a teacher is born out of his philosophy that student involvement in all aspects of SkillsUSA is integral to personal and professional success, and the medals his students have won in both skilled and leadership competitions attest to the efficacy of that philosophy. A strong advocate for career and technical education, Batson is also a member of numerous other CTE organizations. He constantly hones his own skills, too, attending professional development courses and staying in step with new trends in his industry. His program has celebrated 100-percent participation in SkillsUSA since 1996, a number that also describes the amount of personal effort Batson continuously gives to ensure the success of his students.

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Region V
Donald Runyan
Cleveland High School
Reseda, Calif.
For more than 28 years, Donald Runyan has served as a SkillsUSA advisor. Along with many other honors, the drafting instructor from Cleveland High School was named the California Industrial and Technology Education Association’s teacher of the year in 1992, and his program has been featured in more than 100 television, radio and print publications over the years. But Runyan’s greatest legacy is the effect he’s had — and continues to have — on his students, most of whom go on to further academic and subsequent professional success. The reason for this success, according to one former student, is Runyan’s ability “to look at each student and see a winner.” Runyan incorporates SkillsUSA’s Professional Development Program heavily into his curriculum, and he is known not only for engaging his students, but his fellow teachers, the community and local business and industry, each of whom Runyan relies on to continually support and improve his thriving program.

Don Runyan is the 2012 Advisor of the Year! Congratulations Don!

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