Nine Missourians were honored today as state winners of the 2016 Missouri Breaking Traditions Awards. The awards honor students, educators, and employers for their achievements related to nontraditional career paths. The winners were recognized at a ceremony in Jefferson City.

“It is wonderful to see Missourians who are passionate about pursuing the field of their choice,” said Missouri Commissioner of Education Margie Vandeven. “These winners set an example for future generations to follow.”

These are the 2016 award recipients:

• State Secondary Female Award: Caroline Schott – Project Lead the Way, Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center
• State Secondary Male Award: Ethan McGlumphry – Teaching Careers/Early Childhood Careers, Kirksville Area Technical Center
• State Postsecondary/Adult Female Award: Megan Ryan – Engineering Design Technology-Architectural & Mechanical Design, Moberly Area Community College
• State Postsecondary/Adult Male Award: David Dornin – Practical Nursing, Poplar Bluff Technical Career Center
• Secondary Spirit Award: Halee Schermerhorn-Barnhart – Civil Engineering and Architecture, Columbia Area Career Center
• Postsecondary/Adult Spirit Award: Kathleen Hinton – Electronics Engineering Technology, State Technical College of Missouri
• Secondary Educator Award: Officer Darrick Bruns – Law Enforcement/CSI Instructor, Northland Career Center
• Postsecondary Educator Award: Shannon Voss – Department Chair, Civil Engineering Technology, State Technical College of Missouri
• Employer Award: Megan Welch – 3M, Nevada Regional Technical Center

State and Spirit winners will receive scholarship offers from most Missouri community colleges and from the State Technical College of Missouri. Scholarship amounts and guidelines vary and are set by each school. Each State, Spirit and Regional winner who continues his or her education next fall will receive a $100 scholarship from the Missouri STEM Foundation.

The Breaking Traditions program recognizes outstanding educators who teach in nontraditional career education programs for their support of students’ nontraditional career paths. Recognition is also given to employers who are supportive of these students’ choices. Nontraditional career paths are in occupations or fields of work in which one gender comprises less than 25 percent of the individuals employed in that occupation or field. Since 1994, Missouri Breaking Traditions Awards have honored outstanding students who have chosen specific career and technical education programs based on their interests and have not let their gender influence their career decisions.

College and career readiness is a primary goal of Missouri’s Top 10 by 20 initiative, which calls for education performance in Missouri to rank in the top 10 nationwide by 2020.