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Altadena Resident Cushon Bell Chosen as California Delegate to National 'Mom Congress'

Altadena resident and former PUSD School Board candidate chosen as delegate to national event hosted by Parenting Magazine to be held this April in Washington.

Recent write-in candidate for the Pasadena Unified School Board and mother of two Sierra Madre School students has been selected as the California delegate to Parenting Magazine’s Mom Congress on Education and Learning.

The Altadena resident will join 51 other delegates from each state plus the District of Columbia at the conference at Georgetown University in Washington,  April 10 through 13, for what the event organizers are calling an “opportunity to connect with other moms from across the country to share success stories, challenges and concerns as they work to improve our nation’s schools.”

"I was totally surprised," Bell said of having been chosen to attend the event. "I was sitting at the computer on a Sunday morning when the e-mail came through, ... and I wanted to scream, but everyone was asleep, so I thought I should probably contain myself."

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Asked why she believed it is important for her to attend, Bell said it's all about meeting other volunteer moms like herself.

"Probably the thing that strikes me as most important is the opportunity to connect with other moms like me [for the] exchange of ideas and the networking," Bell said.

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Bell’s visit to the three-day conference will include time working closely with the editorial staff of Parenting magazine to shape their coverage of educational issues, according to the magazine.

Her advice for the editors? Work to remind parents that their involvement in their children's education is paramount to their success and that of the educational systems as a whole.

"I think the big thing is to get parents to understand the importance of engagement and being informed," Bell said. "People can be involved or informed to different degrees, [but] the more we know, the more we can harness our collective power."

Aside from their work with the magazine’s editorial staff, Mom Congress delegates will hear from a number of speakers, including U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, as well as representatives from First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign, StudentsFirst.org, Reach Out and Read, the National PTA, National Education Association, Headstart, PBS and NBC Learn.

"It will be exciting to hear from the Secretary of Education; that's something I didn't really think I'd be doing this April," Bell said with a laugh.

As for her plans back here in the San Gabriel Valley, Bell has said that she has still not decided whether or not to to run for the PUSD School Board again in 2013, but that she's "strongly considering it."

But that doesn't mean she doesn't expect to bring plenty back with her from the conference that she can put to work helping out our local schools.

"I feel like I'll be even more fired up and energized about what to do next," Bell said. "I've been getting that question a lot since the campaign ended, so I'm hoping to be able to bring that into focus for me."

The Altadena resident and mother of three sons after receiving a number of accolades for her ongoing volunteer work in PUSD schools, not the least of which being this particular honor.

But Bell’s recognition as an indefatigable volunteer and advocate for public education started locally, with endorsements for her candidacy pouring in as she made the decision to run.

At the time of , Sierra Madre Elementary School parent Gina Long called Bell “a tireless advocate for better schools and a committed volunteer who gives countless hours to the PUSD.” And former Longfellow Elementary PTA president Steven Cole identified Bell as “an intelligent, organized, committed, passionate and fair-minded advocate for children and public schools.”

Parenting magazine launched the Mom Congress initiative in March of 2009 in an effort to, in their words, “celebrate and connect moms fighting for better schools.” This will be the second annual Mom Congress.

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