More than 200 educators gathered for the 55th annual Greater Metropolitan New York Social Studies Conference sponsored by the Association of Teachers of Social Studies/UFT on Feb. 7 at union headquarters in Manhattan. In addition to choosing from 14 diverse workshops, participants attended a series of forums. A forum led by Leo Casey, a former UFT vice president for academic high schools who is currently the executive director of the Albert Shanker Institute, and author Eric Chenoweth focused on labor activism, while another one led by teacher Justin Monaco of MS 158 in Bayside featured the LGBT crusade for equality. Bernard Cohen Awards for outstanding social studies teaching and leadership went to Brooklyn educators Candace Hurley of Clara Barton HS, Robin Waters of PS 230, John Agnello of Juan Campos Secondary School and Joann Peters of Midwood HS. Former City Comptroller John Liu, the winner of the Hubert Humphrey Humanitarian Award, was the keynote speaker at the conference luncheon.