Teachers Honored For Commitment To STEM Education

Challenger Center for Space Science Education has announced five recipients of its 'Teacher of the Year' award for 2010. This award allows the international network of Challenger Learning Centers to recognize teachers from their communities who exemplify the spirit of the Challenger crew's education mission, and who share a commitment to learning about science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Staff members from each of the 48 Challenger Learning Centers were invited to nominate one instructor who had cultivated a strong relationship with their local Challenger Learning Center and whose commitment to education had made a noticeable impact on students and the community at large.

The 2010 Teacher of the Year recipients are:

• Michal Mueller, a science instructor at Curtis Middle School, Sudbury, MA
• Steve Marsden, an elementary teacher at Duchesne Elementary School, Florissant, MO
• Holli Joyal, a 6th & 7th grade science teacher at The Orchard School, Indianapolis, IN
• Maria Montelongo, a teacher at Francis R. Scobee Middle School, San Antonio, TX
• Brandon Cornaby a sixth grade science teacher at Paducah Middle School, Paducah, KY

The Teacher of the Year award is comprised of a special Apollo 8 medallion originally produced by NASA in the 1960. The medallions, containing small amounts of pure aluminum carried into space by astronaut Frank Borman, were struck in honor of Apollo 8, the first human mission to orbit the moon. They medals were originally presented to professionals who had provided support for those missions. The medallions used for this new Challenger Center award are special gifts from the late Mr. Turner N. Wiley, former Chief of NASA's Communication Branch for Engineering at the Goddard Space Flight Center.

At his request, his gift is being used to honor students and teachers who perform exemplary work in education. Mr. Wiley stated "What better way to continue the tradition of these medallions than to reward educators who are working in both classrooms and Challenger Learning Centers to cultivate the next generation of space explorers. I congratulate and thank the five educators who are making such a profound impact on our nation's children."

June Scobee Rodgers, Ph.D., Founding Chairman of Challenger Center, said, "These five gifted instructors come from diverse geographic regions, teach different grade levels, and work with students of varying abilities. What links them together is a genuine desire to ignite their students' curiosities about the universe that surrounds them, as well as to convince them that their futures literally have no boundaries. All of us at Challenger Center are grateful that each of these teachers have found our Challenger Learning Center programs to be a fundamental component of their curriculum."

FMI: www.challenger.org