ACTEAZ Distinguished Service Award

This year’s award recipient for the ACTEAZ Distinguished Service Award is Shelly Thome who is the Exceptional Services Manager at West-MEC. In this position she collaborates with ten districts to serve exceptional students in CTE Programs from West-MEC.

Shelly was the ACTE Career Guidance Award Winner in 2019 and the same award Region V in 2018 and ACTEAZ in 2017. Shelly is an ACTEAZ 2017 Graduate of the ACTEAZ Leadership Fellows Program. Currently she is the Chair for the ACTE Inclusion, Access, Equity and Diversity Mentorship Program. In Arizona she is the Instructor for Serving Exceptional Students in CTE for the ACTEAZ Premier Series. Many teachers in CTE in Arizona learn the valuable information on how to be better teachers for their Exceptional Students. Some of the professional development events Shelly has served as Facilitator are: Exceptional Student Services Summit (collaboration with ESS Team across the West Valley, 504 Accommodation Plans, Working with Adolescents with Anxiety, Bias in Education, Suicide Awareness, Maslow Before Bloom.

Shelly Thome is so respected for all her expertise in these many areas and she provides the information to help students statewide and nationally. That is why is so requested to speak at state and national conferences. Her contributions do make a difference in the lives of so many students. In addition, her national contributions are appreciated and recognized as she serves on the ACTE Counseling and Career Development Divisions Committees for Policy, Conference Planning and Nominating Committee.