Board of Judges-Citizen Activist Award
The Gleitsman Foundation
P.O. Box 6888
Malibu, CA 90264

Dear Board Members:

The Winona, Minnesota branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) is nominating Gene Pelowski for the 2004 Citizen Activist Award for his efforts in challenging Winona area students to reach their full potential, for leading them with integrity as their State Representative, and for encouraging them to use technology in innovative ways as they discover the value of civic responsibility.

Gene Pelowski has taught history and American Government at Winona Senior High School since 1975. One of his first assignments was to assume responsibility for the Model Legislature for high school students in the Winona area. Gene understood the significance and potential of this assignment, and subsequently developed a program that has inspired hundreds of students to become scholars, activists, and candidates for public office. In addition, the program influenced Gene to run for public office in large part because he had encouraged his students to become involved in government, and he decided to take his own advice. As a result, Gene Pelowski has served as Winona, Minnesota's State Representative since 1986.

Gene Pelowski's Model Legislature program demonstrates how one dedicated teacher can help his students understand how a democracy functions. They learn first hand, by assuming the roles of members of the legislature, how laws are written and enacted. Students also learn that communication and negotiations are necessary to good legislation. Each fall semester Gene teaches his students how to research and write bills with at least two verifiable sources to improve debate in committee and on the floor of the mock Senate and House. Over time he has added a committee structure to improve the students' work on bills before they come to the floor so they have an opportunity to amend and debate the bills' merits. Because Gene understands the importance of using technology in the classroom, his program was the first to use a database spreadsheet in the late 1970's in order to organize students, bills, and participating schools in appropriate committees and houses. His students are now adept at using laptop computers as well as employing power point instruction during the course of the program.

Students who have participated in the Winona Senior High School Model Legislature are now involved in every level of government across the nation. One example of Gene's positive influence is of a high school girl who, despite her rank in the top ten percent of her class, was neither involved in many school activities nor had plans to attend college. During her involvement in the Model Legislature, she found herself challenging the Winona Senior High School's National Merit Scholar in a race for Speaker of the House. She not only won, but she withstood his attempts to undermine her leadership from the floor of the House. She went on to the University of Minnesota's School of Architecture and became active in politics statewide. She later wrote Gene a letter stating how her Model Legislature experience had changed the course of her life.

Gene Pelowski also involves college students in this program. For over a decade he has taught Teaching Social Studies in Secondary Education at Winona State University. These aspiring Social Studies teachers work with the Model Legislature as their final assignment by serving as committee administrators, assistants to the chief clerks of the House and Senate, and aids to the Governor. As a result, they produce a power point journal relating how the Model Legislature is a hands-on Social Studies learning experience. By having these students participate in the Model Legislature program, Gene has demonstrated how to employ hands-on learning experiences when they teach social studies.

Gene Pelowski also incorporates the Model Legislature into Winona State University's summer Leadership Institute for High School Students. Three years ago, as a direct result of Gene's having the Model Legislature take place at the university for the past 20 years, President Darrell Krueger asked Gene to help establish this institute The Institute combines technology, as students use laptop computers to create power point presentations of the week's activities, with the book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, and the Model Legislature. The purpose of this program is to teach principle-centered leadership and to have the students acquire the technological skills necessary to develop and expand their leadership abilities. During this week, parents can log on to the Winona State University web site and see dozens of photos of their children participating in each day's activities.

Finally, as a result of his direction of the Model Legislature program, Gene Pelowski has served the Winona community for 17 years as its State Representative. During this time, he has successfully sponsored legislation for Winona State University's undergraduate Composite Engineering Program, which is the only program of its kind in the nation. When the program first began in 1989, there were only a few composite firms in the area; now there are over a dozen companies that use its research labs and hire its engineers.

Winona State University also benefited from legislation that Gene sponsored for its new Library, Science Building, Lourdes Residential College, the addition to the Winona State University Commons, the Winona Technical College Aviation Building, and the center at the Winona Airport and new Truck Driving Facility.

During the 1997-1998 session Gene Pelowski chaired the Higher Education Finance Division and,
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working with the Governor and the Senate, helped pass into law record increases in funding for Minnesota's higher education systems. In addition, he chaired the Minnesota House of Representatives Select Committee on Technology that put into place the House web site, brought laptop computers into use for each member, created the Email network, and wired the State Office Building for Internet use.

These are significant and important achievements. Gene Pelowski has served his students by inspiring them to become actively engaged in civic life and to advocate for participatory democracy. He has served his community by inspiring his students to pursue public service and personal excellence. He has advocated for improvements in K-12 and higher education. Finally, he has served the state of Minnesota and its citizens through his dedication to high quality instruction, his diligence to funding education at all levels, and his advocacy of technology to provide better public access to the State Legislature. It is not surprising, then, that Winona State University named Gene Pelowski a distinguished alumni in 2002 in recognition of his work on behalf of education, the Winona community, and State of Minnesota.

On behalf of the Winona, Minnesota branch of the American Association of University Women, we strongly encourage you to consider Gene Pelowski for the 2004 Citizen Activist Award.

Sincerely,

Vicki Englich, President-elect Marian Carroll, Historian


Enclosures: Letters of recommendation, Model Legislature Rules, Tips, sample Bill Book page, Resources, Winona State University Leadership Institute information, newspaper articles