The Daily Bulletin Archive

Nicole Puskas, a teacher in the Buffalo State College Child Care Center, received the 2012 National Child Care Teacher Award from the Terri Lynne Lokoff Child Care Foundation. Puskas, who has taught at the center for almost six years, is one of 52 early child care teachers across the country who were chosen for their work on an enhancement project that is educationally, socially, and emotionally beneficial to the children in their care.

Puskas developed the Incubator Project, which gives children in her 2- and 3-year-old classroom the opportunity to observe the stages of development from egg to baby chick using age-appropriate charts and teaching materials. Puskas has also served for four years as a board member of the Association for the Education of Young Children (AEYC) of Western New York and as chair for “The Week of the Young Child,” a national celebration sponsored by AEYC.

Puskas will receive a $1,000 award during a ceremony recognizing all 2012 Terri Lynne Lokoff Child Care Foundation winners on April 19 at the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since its inception in 1994, the foundation has presented 687 awards totaling more than $650,000 to early child care education providers.