The Pamplin Media Group and the College of Business at Oregon State University honored Mark Siegel, Assistant Headmaster of The Delphian School in Sheridan, with their first High School Business Educator Award. Siegel and four other outstanding teachers from high schools around the state were honored last Thursday (May 1st) evening at OSU's Centennial Alumni and Business Partner Awards dinner celebrating the 100th anniversary of the College of Business held at Portland’s historic Governor Hotel. Each educator received the award for their efforts to improve student achievement, for their use of innovative and exemplary instructional strategies, and for their dedication to teaching business concepts to students.

Siegel, a 34-year veteran teacher at The Delphian School, has led a seminar in business basics, economics and the importance of entrepreneurship and leadership since 1995. Delphian's headmistress Rosemary Didear, says of Siegel: "Mark works hard to insure his students understand business basics, economics concepts, and the importance of entrepreneurship and leadership. His legal background (UC Davis Law School), his love of business and economics and his emphasis on practical application, make his business seminars very popular with our students. His lively classroom activities, guest speakers and field trips help students relate their other classes to possible career choices."

Siegel's reputation for organizing innovative field trips has spread to neighboring McMinnville, where he has helped McMinnville High School arrange field trips and has become a regular chaperone. Siegel, a former president of the McMinnville Chamber of Commerce, now serves on a number of board committees and task forces. He also chairs the Chamber's Business-Education Partnership Committee, working with local public and private school educators to help prepare all local students for the world of business.

His annual extended field trips expose Delphian School students to a wide range of careers and professions. From meeting Kofi Anan at the United Nations to appearing live with Emeril Lagasse on ABC’s Good Morning America, from a visit with the co-founder of MySpace to a private conversation with multiple Academy Award winner Paul Haggis (writer/director of Crash and Million Dollar Baby), students get to learn first hand how businesses run and how professionals work. The east coast trips include visits to the floors of the Chicago Board of Trade and the Mercantile Exchange, Fidelity Investments in Boston and New York, and the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. This year's February-March trip to Southern California included visits to Symantec, an inside tour of Universal Studios and a personal interview with the CEO of Fox Broadcasting.

After the recent southern California business seminar field trip, one Delphian School student said, "If I had to say one thing to others about this trip, I would say it changes your life. It gives you a purpose for whatever it is you're studying."