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June 07, 2023
Local Teachers Receive Onpoint’s Prize for Excellence
Winners will
have their
mortgage or
rent paid for
one year and
receive $2,500
for their school
OnPoint Community Cred-
it Union has announced the
four winners of the 2023 On-
Point Prize for Excellence in
Education Educator of the Year
awards. Samuel Platt, principal
of Tumalo Community School
is the first recipient of the Gold
Star Educator award, a category
for pre-kindergarten teachers,
school counselors, substitute
teachers, librarians, or school
administrators. Caryn Anderson,
fourth grade teacher at Aber-
nethy Elementary School. Lu-
cas Dix who is a sixth through
eighth grade media arts and jour-
nalism teacher at Rowe Middle
School. Willie Williams, ninth
through 12th grade history and
economics teacher at Roosevelt
High School.
From left to right: Caryn Anderson, K-5 Educator of the Year winner; Lucas Dix, 6-8 Educator of the Year winner; Rob Stuart,
President & CEO, OnPoint Community Credit Union; Willie Williams, 9-12 Educator of the Year winner; Samuel Platt, Gold Star
Educator of the Year winner.
The four Educators of the Year
will have their mortgage or rent
paid for one year and receives
$2,500 for each of their schools.
In addition, the four runners-up
will receive $5,000 for them-
selves and $1,500 for each of
their schools.
“Educators have a profound
impact on their students, as well
as their entire community,” said
Rob Stuart, President and Chief
Executive Officer, OnPoint
Community Credit Union. “This
year’s Educators of the Year re-
spect their students as individ-
uals and create educational ex-
periences that truly connect and
inspire them. We are honored to
recognize these educators and
know they will continue to make
a difference for their students
and our region.”
In the 14 years since the On-
Point Prize for Excellence in Ed-
ucation campaign launched, it
has awarded more than $650,000
in prizes to 313 local educators
and schools. The 2023 campaign
awarded an additional $193,000 to
21 more deserving public and pri-
vate K-12 educators and schools.
Metro’s New Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Striving to
cultivate
diversity,
advance equity
and practice
inclusion in all
of its work
Sebrina Owens- Wilson new director of diversity, equity and
inclusion at Metro
Metro chief operating of-
ficer Marissa Madrigal an-
nounced Thursday that Sebri-
na Owens-Wilson, a veteran
of equitable job creation who
previously served as Metro’s
Regional Impact Program
Manager, has been selected as
Metro’s director of diversity,
equity and inclusion.
In more than four years at
Metro, Owens-Wilson has man-
aged the growth of a program
that worked to advance racial
equity through Metro policy,
programs, and investments, in-
cluding the Construction Ca-
reer Pathways program, Metro’s
Civic Engagement Capacity
Building Grant Program and its
Committee on Racial Equity.
“Sebrina’s work to align eco-
nomic opportunity, job creation,
public engagement and equity
outcomes has been not only in-
strumental for Metro and our
region, it’s been truly ground
breaking on a national scale,”
Madrigal said. “Her experience
working with partners from la-
bor, the public and private sectors
and community leaders is going
to improve our work at Metro,
and make a difference in the lives
of so many Oregonians.”
The Construction Careers
Pathways program is Metro’s
effort to address a forecast
shortage of labor in the skilled
and construction trades by ad-
dressing barriers to entry for
women and people of color.
The Civic Engagement Capac-
ity Building Grants supported
community organizations that
had historically been excluded
from decision-making process-
es in building the foundation
they needed to be able to effec-
tively influence policy at a re-
gional level.
Before joining Metro in 2019,
Owens-Wilson worked for 11
years at the Partnership for
Working Families, supporting
community coalitions across
the country in achieving racial
justice outcomes through public
investments and authored re-
search that supported policy de-
velopment and implementation
focused on equitable develop-
ment, climate justice and work-
force equity including the U.S.
Department of Transportation’s
implementation of the local hir-
ing policy for federally funded
transportation projects during
the Obama administration.
“When I think about the
moment Metro is in now, I am
excited about all of the oppor-
tunity that is in front of us to
grow and learn and push our
racial equity strategies to the
next level,” Owens-Wilson
said. “Previous DEI directors,
Metro leadership, and commu-
nity and regional partners have
built a strong foundation for
this work. I’m honored to build
on this foundation and continue
the work of delivering meaning-
ful racial equity outcomes that
improve the lives of BIPOC
communities and ultimately ev-
eryone in the region.”
Owens-Wilson holds a mas-
ter’s in International Studies
from the University of Oregon
and a bachelor’s in Interna-
tional Political Economy from
Colorado College. She is a
graduate of the National Labor
Leadership Institute.