Ron Adams has been a Massachusetts public school teacher for 25 years and is currently at the Broad Meadows Middle School, Quincy. A graduate of the Boston Public Schools and the University of Massachusetts at Boston, Ron was selected as State Teacher of the Year in 1992, and he is a former History Coordinator of the Massachusetts Academy for Teachers, sponsored by UMass/Harvard,

Integrating writing and current events, Ron's 7th grade students are challenged annually to interact with community elders on issues they care deeply about. His 12-year-old students have, as a result, become young historians and activists. Recognition has come locally and nationally for student initiated projects such as their "Winnie the Welder Story," an oral history "video history book" which chronicles local women who became pioneering patriots for being among the first-ever female shipbuilders during WWII. Globally, Ron's stsudents have earned recognition for their international anti-child labor efforts. In the Fall of 1999, Ron co-hosted a two-part TV show on MCET called "The Global Sweatshop," related to child labor.

The recognitions Ron and/or his students have received include:

• The 1995 Reebok International Youth-in-Action Huan Rights Award, presented at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.

• The 1997 Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights Award, presented in MN.

• The 1998 National Consumers League's Trumpeter Award (co-recipient: Myrlie Evers-Williams, Medgar Evers' widow) presented in Washington, DC.

• The 1998 Domestic Partnership Award from USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development - co-recipient U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes of Maryland), presented in Washington, DC.

• The Peace Corps' Global Awareness Award 2000 from National Peace Corps Director Mark Schneider, presented at the JFK Library in Boston.

• The 1999 Eisendrath Bearer of Light Award, presented at the Union of American Hebrew Congregations Biennial Convention in Orlando, FL.

• The 2000 National Education Association's Applegate-Dorros Peace and Global Understanding Award, presented at the NEA Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.

• The 2002 Freedom Lives Award, presented on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC on September 11, 2002. The presenter was USAID Administrator Andrew S. Natsios.

Ron shares his approach to oral history interviewing by students and provides samples questions from the "Winnie the Welder Oral History Project." .