ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—Former Alamosa resident and Adams State University alumnus Lorraine “Raina” Cohn was recently named Coalition On Adult Basic Education (COABE) Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award Runner-Up.

COABE is 15,000 members strong and growing, and provides a variety of services including annually providing competitive national-level awards, incentive grants, and scholarship opportunities through special funding provided by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation.

Its mission is to inspire educators so adults succeed and communities thrive. COABE exists to provide leadership, communication, professional development, and advocacy for adult education and literacy practitioners in order to advance quality services for all adult learners. Fifteen thousand members strong, one way that COABE engages in these activities is by spotlighting excellence in the field.

Cohn was nominated for COABE's Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award and was selected as a runner-up.

She has been the Youth Development, Inc. Youth Build HSE Instructor since January 2015. Cohn has an amazing skill to motivate and prepare her students for the HSE credential. During her tenure at YDI YouthBuild, 83 students have enrolled for HSE class and an amazing 74.7 percent have earned their HSE credential.

Several more students are lacking just one more exam to complete the credential and they are expected to complete the HSE in the coming weeks. Cohn's current cohort has an incredible pass rate of 90.3 percent including both the Pearson GED® and HiSET® exams.

She has a natural ability to encourage students and to let them know that it is not where they start but how they finish. She has a talent to show students how to take ownership of their own education and has proven that when a student believes in their mind that the can do it, it is only a matter of time before they do it.

Cohn is the current vice president for the New Mexico TESOL Board and has earned a TESOL Endorsement in Strategies for Second Language Learners. She has recently completed the Bernalillo County Sheriffs Department Citizen Academy and has been accepted into the 2017 FBI Citizen Academy. She is a wonderful model of an adult educator.