Four Vermont math and science teachers will receive the nation’s highest honor for math and science K-12 teachers, the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, in Washington on Thursday.
“I am so lucky to be able to share my passion to make math relevant and interesting with my students,” said award recipient Laura Botte-Fretz, a math teacher at Edmunds Middle School in Burlington.
In addition to Botte-Fretz, other recipients include: Lisa Marks, a science teacher at Ludlow Elementary School, Katherine McCann, a math teacher at U-32 Middle High School and Mary Louise McLaughlin, a science teacher at Barre Town Middle and Elementary School. They will be among 213 teachers nationwide honored with the presidential award.
“The recipients of this award are integral to ensuring our students are equipped with critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are vital to our nation’s success,” President Barack Obama said. Obama added that future innovation depends on such excellence in instruction to prepare students in the STEM fields.
Congress began the award program in 1983 and each year the award alternates between teachers in elementary school and those working with students in seventh through 12th grade. The Vermont honorees represent two nomination years and the full span of K-12 education.
Winners get a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation, attend a ceremony in Washington, D.C., and visit with members of the Obama administration.
“These Vermont science educators have demonstrated exemplary accomplishments in their content learning, pedagogy, ongoing self-improvement, and leadership,” said Gail Hall, a science specialist at the Vermont Agency of Education. “We congratulate them on this well-deserved recognition.”
Presidential award winners are selected because they use new approaches and technologies in their classrooms and continue to seek professional development. They are selected by a panel of scientists, mathematicians and educators.
