Karen Kodama, International Education Program administrator at Seattle Public Schools, received the Washington Association for Language Teaching Pro Lingua Award in October for her advocacy and support of world languages.
The award is given annually at a conference held in Vancouver to the person who most promotes the study of world languages in schools.
Kodama was the founding principal at John Stanford International School, which features Spanish and Japanese partial immersion for its students. She also led efforts to help Beacon Hill Elementary become Beacon Hill International School, featuring a Chinese partial immersion program and a Spanish literacy program to help native Spanish speaking children with their English.