BANGOR – Ken Huhn, program director for St. Joseph Healthcare, was recently honored with the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Grassroots Champion Award.

Huhn is vice president of the AHA of New England, Penobscot division, and has been a delegate to the New England Assembly for two years. He also serves on the AHA State Public Advocacy Committee, which champions causes with the Legislature and other public groups. In addition, he is the St. Joseph Hospital captain for the AHA walkathon and the event’s former chair for the Bangor region.

Huhn recently completed a two-year term as president of the Maine Society for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation. He is also a board member for the Maine Cardiovascular Health Council and served on a subcommittee that created “ME Cares,” a statewide system of monitoring by telephone patients with congestive heart failure and coronary heart disease. The program is now used in 28 hospitals including St. Joseph Hospital.

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ORONO – Shelly Lynn Johnson has been named Teacher of the Year for 2001 in Orono. She was chosen from 30 nominees in the Orono school system and has taught at the Asa C. Adams Elementary School since 1994. She is a graduate of Foxcroft Academy and the University of Maine at Farmington.

Johnson has also been selected as one of 10 regional finalists for Maine’s Teacher of the Year award. The recipient of the Maine Teacher of the Year award will be announced this fall.

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HAMPDEN – Heidi E. Corliss has received the Distinguished Choral Award from the Maine Chapter of the American Choral Directors’ Association.

Corliss teaches grades 6-12 choral music and high school music theory in Hampden. In the 13 years she has taught in SAD 22, the choral program has grown from 25 singers to 130 singers in three choirs. At Reeds Brook Middle School, about 150 students are involved in choruses and show choir.

She also started community choir through adult education in Hampden and is the music director at the Hampden Congregational Church.