Crystal Priest, technology coordinator for MSAD 4, was honored with the Association of Computer Technology Educators of Maine’s Presidential Achievement Award on May 14 in Augusta.
ACTEM presented Priest with a new computer and regaled her with a slide show of highlights during her term, including her role in bringing over $1 million in federal distance learning grant equipment and training to Maine K-12 schools.
Priest played a leading role in the annual ACTEM production of the MAINEducation Technology Conference, an affordable event that brings nearly 1,000 people to the Augusta Civic Center each October. She represented ACTEM at national conferences each summer and organized ACTEM-sponsored trainings for teachers and administrators.
Bette Manchester, president of Maine International Center for Digital Learning, worked with Priest on the Maine Learning Technology Initiative in the program’s early stages. “Crystal led a lot of work with the choosing of the computer, helping to set the schools up and giving advice to other tech directors about how to do things,” Manchester recalled.
“She really spends a lot of her time in her district trying to come up with the most advanced thinking around technology,” Manchester said. “Crystal Priest is synonymous with technology in Maine.”