The Rotary Club of Shepherdstown has given a Paul Harris Award to Shepherdstown Middle School band teacher Chadsley (Chad) Conant.

The award was presented at the club’s Sept. 22 weekly breakfast meeting at the Bavarian Inn.

The Paul Harris Award is the Shepherdstown Rotary Club’s highest award. It is named for the individual who founded Rotary International in 1905, Paul Percy Harris (1868-1947).

The Shepherdstown Club periodically bestows this award on Club and community members who exemplify the Rotary motto of “Service Above Self.” The Club makes a $1,000 contribution from its own funds to the International Rotary organization’s charitable foundation on each awardee’s behalf.

Ms. Conant has been the band teacher at Shepherdstown Middle School since 2008. Previously, she taught band at Shepherdstown Elementary School and other elementary schools in Jefferson County.

Since she came to the middle school, the school’s concert and jazz bands have excelled, winning many awards. Ms. Conant herself has received many honors, including a Distinguished Graduate Award in Professionalism from Shepherd University in 2010, the West Virginia Band Director of the Year Award in 2012, the Shepherdstown Middle School Teacher of the Year Award in 2013, and the Shepherdstown Rotary Club’s Vocational Service Award in 2013.

Also receiving Paul Harris Award at the same breakfast were Shepherdstown Rotary Club members Enrico (Rick) Caruso and Paul Woods. They are shown in the other accompanying photograph, with Mr. Caruso on the left.

Mr. Caruso is employed by DMI as an information technology manager for the U.S. Coast Guard’s Operations Systems Center in Kearneysville. In that position, he manages a team of 200 contractor information technology professionals for the development and sustainment of software applications to assist the Coast Guard with its multi-mission field operations.

Previously, he was a manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

He moved to Shepherdstown in 1998, and joined the Shepherdstown Rotary Club in 2002. He has served as the Club’s secretary since 2003.

Within Rotary, he has been an active participant in Vocational Services initiatives including the First in Your Family program, Jefferson High School mock interviews, and the Rotary Reads program. Outside Rotary, he has been the Treasurer for his neighborhood homeowners association for the last 15 years.

This is his second Paul Harris Award

Mr. Woods is the Chief Technical Officer at SkyTruth, a Shepherdstown-based nonprofit that uses remote sensing and digital mapping to track and document environmental problems worldwide. He has been in that position since 2011. Previously, he ran a software company called Intelligenx based in Herndon VA.

He moved to Shepherdstown in 2001 and joined the Shepherdstown Rotary Club in 2003. He served as the Club’s president in 2013-2014. He has also served on the steering committee for Sustainable Shepherdstown.