Education and training center celebrates American Education Week Published Nov. 9, 2007 By 071109 GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- The National Education Association celebrates its 86th annual American Education Week Nov. 11 to 17, spotlighting the importance of providing and creating opportunities for quality education. Creating Opportunities for Education: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility reflects the association's message, calling upon America to provide students with quality schools so that they can grow, prosper, and achieve in the 21st century. Grand Forks AFB is answering this call by providing three exciting events during American Education Week. On Nov. 13, the education and training center will host the fall 2007 Community College of the Air Force graduation at 2 p.m. in the Northern Lights Club. Two Pitsenbarger scholarships will be awarded during the graduation. The Pitsenbarger is offered from the Air Force Association and provides $500 grants for CCAF graduates who are pursuing bachelor's degrees. CCAF is a federally chartered and regionally accredited college at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., providing career-related associate in applied science degree programs to enlisted personnel. CCAF is the world's largest community college system, currently serving more than 340,000 enrolled students. Grand Forks AFB students worked extremely hard this year making it the base's largest fall graduation to date with 76 degrees awarded. This year, the base's education and training center was awarded a certificate of recognition from the CCAF commandant for their commitment in developing education strategies for base servicemembers, leading to 116 CCAF degrees for 2006. Grand Forks AFB education and training center will host Troops to Teachers, Teaching as a Second Career Seminar in the center's Lecture Bowl North from 1 to 3 p.m. Nov. 14. This seminar will also cover spouses to teachers, online teacher preparation programs, financial assistance currently available, etc. Representatives will be available from 3 to 5 p.m. for questions and answers, as well as one-on-one information. To complete American Education Week, on Nov. 15 the education and training center is hosting the third annual Education and Training Fair in the Northern Lights Club from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Twenty-eight colleges and universities are participating in this year's event, along with information and representatives for Air Force commissioning, Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps and Troops to Teachers. These schools and agencies will be available to talk about the degrees they offer, as well as information on the various licensure and certification programs they have. Enlisted members and officers receive up to $4,500 of military tuition assistance each year to pursue degree programs up to, and including a master's degree. During this event, the education and training center will also have information available on scholarships, grants, career assessments, Montgomery GI Bill, CCAF degrees, Air University Associate-To-Baccalaureate Cooperative information, hints for being successful in college, study guides, and much more. "We're very proud for the opportunity to present these events and programs during American Education Week to serve our service members and their dependents," said Dr. Robert Hauer, force development flight chief and education and services officer. "It's our mission to provide an extensive offering of education and training opportunities to serve our servicemembers and their dependents to fulfill their education strategies, goals and objectives." For more information, contact Tim Scheving from the education and training center at 747-3316/3317 or e-mail him at timothy.scheving@grandforks.af.mil. Media interested in covering this base event should RSVP to the public affairs office by 4:30 p.m. Nov. 14 by calling (701) 747-5023 or e-mail pa@grandforks.af.mil.