Volunteer honored for dedication to career center

‘‘When she left that day, she totally changed the atmosphere in the classroom,” said Zepp-Imhoff.

That is why Zepp-Imhoff didn’t hesitate to nominate Meagher for the Comcast Parent Involvement Matters Award for Frederick County. A collaboration between Comcast and the Maryland State Department of Education, the award celebrates parents’ contributions to education.

Meagher and 22 other parents from all parts of Maryland were recently selected among 140 nominations for the award. As a local winner, Meagher will be considered in the selection of five semifinalists and a statewide winner at a gala held today. The state winner and six-semi-finalists will receive cash prizes of $1,000 and $250, respectively, so they can further their efforts in support of education.

‘‘I didn’t know anything about this [award],” Meagher said. ‘‘I didn’t volunteer because I wanted the award. I just wanted to help out. ... It brought tears to my eyes.”

Meagher, 49, is a mother of three and Ballenger Creek-area resident. A former high school English teacher, she also served for two years as principal at the Maryland School for the Deaf before she retired in 2006.

She was nominated because of her involvement in the Frederick County Career and Technology Center’s Academy of Finance - a unique two-year program for teaching high school juniors and seniors about economics, business and finance. The academy offers a unique combination of regular classroom courses and internships and practical projects outside the classroom.

Meagher got involved when her older daughter enrolled in the program a few years ago. Last year, she became the parent representative on the advisory board for the academy. She was the first parent to become involved in marketing, recruitment and fundraising for the program. She helped expand grants for the program and helped secure money for the academy’s annual trip to New York City.

When Meagher’s two daughters – a junior and a senior at Tuscarora High School – graduate from the Finance Academy, she plans to also enroll her son, now a middle-schooler, in the program.

Meagher has not only worked to benefit the programs in which her daughters have been involved, said Career and Technology Center Principal Greg Solberg, who also nominated Meagher for the award. Meagher was the first parent to express interest in starting a parent organization at the school and she has helped with fundraisers benefitting the entire center, he said.

Most importantly, Meagher has given an example for parent involvement on a secondary school level, when parents are traditionally less involved.

‘‘She just picks up many of those organizational aspects,” Solberg said. ‘‘Kathy has always been the person in the back doing all the legwork.”