Teacher wins conservation award

Lois Theis, who teaches fourth, fifth and sixth grades at Bader School, has been selected as "Conservation Educator of the Year" by the Washtenaw County Soil Conservation District. The award will be presented at the group's annual meeting Feb. 10 at the Chelsea Community Fair Service Center. Theis has been a teacher at Bader for eight years, and has been in the school district nearly 30 years, according to Patti DeYoung, Bader principal. The commendation comes because of Theis' long involvement with outdoor education projects, including canoe and camping trips. "She's probably one of the real outstanding teachers in the district," DeYoung observed. Theis, meanwhile, remains modest. "This is embarassing. Keep the story to three lines, please," she told a News reporter.