This award recognizes outstanding service by an organization or an individual who makes a significant contribution to advancing the work of the Association for Middle Level Education in reaching middle grades educators, schools, and young adolescents.
2021 Recipient: Janet Melinda (Linda) Hopping
Most recently, the award was bestowed on Linda Hopping, retired middle school principal and current faculty for AMLE’s Institute for Middle Level Leadership. For more than 55 years, Hopping has been a passionate advocate for middle level education. She spent 33 years working in middle schools in Colorado and Georgia, as a teacher, curriculum coordinator, assistant principal, and principal where she impacted the lives of thousands of students and educators. Upon retiring as principal, Linda dedicated her time to advancing middle grades initiatives. She has served in a myriad of leadership roles, including AMLE Trustee, Co-Director of the Georgia Lighthouse Schools to Watch Program, Executive Director and President of the Georgia Middle School Association, faculty member of the AMLE Institute for Middle Level Leadership, and school coach for the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform. Hopping’s commitment to service is also reflected in the several works she has authored, including Middle School Programs That Work, and the Study Guide to The Successful Middle School: This We Believe. Most recently, she served as a member of AMLE’s Schools of Distinction Exploratory Committee.
Learn more about Linda’s impact:
Past Recipients:
2021 – Linda Hopping
2016 – Pat George
2014 – Norma Bailey
2011 – Ann Eichel
2006 – Imogene & Henry Forte
2006 – Bruce Bailey
2005 – Katie Sullivan
2000 – U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley
1998 – Court TV
1986 – John Swaim