DiscoverE Announces 2014 Educator Awards Honorees
LAS VEGAS, NV – June 24, 2014 – Honoring the educators who are inspiring the next generation of students to discover engineering, DiscoverE announced the recipients of the 2014 Educator Awards. Through this annual recognition, the engineering profession pays tribute to those who bring engineering to life for students in grades 6-12.
The 2014 honorees include:
- Stephanie Cross - Lawrence Family Development Charter Center, Lawrence, MA. Nominated by Edward L. Hajduk, University of Massachusetts Lowell.
- Todd Matia - Sand Creek High School, Colorado Springs, CO. Nominated by William Besch, Lockheed Martin Corporation.
- Romeo Valdez - Foy H. Moody High School - Innovation Academy for Engineering, Environmental & Marine Science , Corpus Christi, TX. Nominated by Rudy Medina, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi.
Unique to this program, engineers and engineering students are part of the nomination process. The winners, along with eight runners up, are selected by a panel of distinguished national education, engineering and business leaders. The three winners receive a $2,000 cash prize and a 3M gift pack of classroom supplies. The eight notable runners-up win $500 each and gift packs.
“Teachers play a pivotal role in guiding the next generation of engineers,” said Leslie Collins, Executive Director of DiscoverE. “It is an amazing thing to see how their passion for engineering inspires others. Thank you and congratulations to all the winning and nominated educators.”
Stephanie Cross
Stephanie Cross started her professional life as a research scientist, but discovered her passion for teaching when she had children. Twelve years later, Stephanie now chairs a middle school science department that serves students from a highly impoverished community. Living and working in Massachusetts, an affluent state with an economy driven by technology and engineering, Stephanie asks: “why shouldn’t my students be the future of this state’s economy?” This question drives Cross to provide her students with one possible route out of poverty—engineering.
Todd Matia
Recognizing that not all students learn the same way, high school teacher Todd Matia has dedicated his teaching career to finding and creating unexpected paths to understanding math, computer science, and engineering. He has developed a new approach to teaching algebra which, Todd says, “can help most people struggling with algebra in less than 20 minutes.” Todd is sharing his innovative methods with others via StinkyKidMath.com, a website filled with fun and relatable games and videos that are helping students and teachers learn algebra. Todd is contributing to learning in a variety of ways. He has also worked with his Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam to create a sustainable solution to provide clean water for the island of La Gonave, Haiti.
Romeo Valdez
Returning to teach in the same high school from which he graduated, Romeo Valdez hopes to instill in his students the desire to achieve and the ability to take advantage of the opportunities in front of them. Romeo doesn’t use this time-honored formula for success with just his students--he started with himself. Upon graduation from high school, Valdez enlisted in the military and became an electronics technician. However, soon he saw the benefit to himself and his family of furthering his education and after completing a degree in math, Romeo decided it was time to give back to his community by helping students envision a brighter future for themselves. He turned to teaching and hasn’t looked back.
The 2014 runners-up include:
- Dr. Valencia Dutton - Energy Institute High School, Houston, Texas. Nominated by Robert Houston, US Environmental Protection Agency.
- Darla Erato - Nativity Jesuit Middle School (NJMS), Milwaukee, Wyoming. Nominated by John McCarthy, Joy Global.
- Kimberly Forbes - Ferndale Middle School, High Point, North Carolina. Nominated by Adrian Wright, Guilford Technical Community College.
- Shannon Jephson-Hernandez - Mill Creek Middle School, Kent, Washington. Nominated by Lise Johnson, University of Washington, Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering.
- Jeanette McNally - Miamisburg Middle School, Miamisburg, Ohio. Nominated by Margaret F. Pinnell, University of Dayton.
- Fred Olmedo - Cabrillo High School, Long Beach, California. Nominated by Victor Liquin, California State University, Long Beach.
- Timothy Sachse - Atlantic Community High School, Delray Beach, Florida. Nominated by Diana Arboleda, University of Miami, Coral Gables.
- Clay Springer - Rapoport Academy Public School, Waco, Texas. Nominated by Bracken Arnhart, Mars Chocolate North America.
The ASME Foundation, Bechtel, ExxonMobil, IEEE-USA, and 3M are the sponsors for DiscoverE’s 2014 Educator Awards.
About DiscoverE
The mission of DiscoverE is to sustain and grow a dynamic engineering profession through outreach, education, celebration and volunteerism. DiscoverE supports a network of thousands of volunteers in its partner coalition of more than 100 professional societies, major corporations and government agencies. Together we meet a vital need: introducing students, parents, and educators to engineering, engaging them in hands-on engineering experiences and making science and math relevant. For more information, visit www.discovere.org. To become part of the conversation about DiscoverE, connect on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.
Press Contact:
Michelle Addo
Sayles & Winnikoff Communications
Kalli Dionysiou
Sayles & Winnikoff Communications