Three Pre-College Teachers Honored with DiscoverE Educator Awards

Three Pre-College Teachers Honored with DiscoverE Educator Awards Three Pre-College Teachers Honored with DiscoverE Educator Awards Three Pre-College Teachers Honored with DiscoverE Educator AwardsSteve Meyer Earlier this month, the National Engineers Week Foundation honored three pre-college educators for their high-spirited efforts to introduce young people to engineering concepts. The teachers - Steve Meyer of Brillion, Wis., Nicole Penn of Greensboro, N.C., and Anthony Williams of Omaha, Neb. - were named as the winners of the 2013 DiscoverE Educator Recognition Awards, while eight other top teachers were named runners-up in this years program. The DiscoverE Educator Awards program, which highlights grade 6-12 teachers who inspire their students to pursue career paths in engineering, was created by ASME and launched last year when the Society was co-chair of Engineers Week.The three winners each received a $2,000 cash prize, a 3M digital projector, and a 3M gift pack of clas sroom supplies. The prize also included a trip to Washington, D.C., where the winners were honored at a ceremony at the National Museum of the American Indian. The eight runners up received $500 apiece, as well as a 3M Shoot n Share camera and a 3M gift pack. Nicole Penn One of this years three winners, Steve Meyer of Brillion High School, has established a manufacturing engineering curriculum in his school, brings in speakers, arranges industry tours and internships, co-sponsors a STEM club, and supports vehicle and invention competitions. He also has helped unite his school to the business community through the addition of a new $1.5 1000000 technology and engineering education center. Each year he organizes more than 50 tours for other schools, school boards, administrators and industry leaders to visit the program, create partnerships, and develop their own technology and engineering programs. This fall, he will begin training elementary school teachers to teach t he Engineering is Elementary hands-on curriculum that was developed by the Museum of Science, Boston.A second 2013 DiscoverE Educator Award winner, Nicole Penn from Kiser Middle School, runs a STEM-based afterschool club where students participate in a variety of engineering and technology competitions and activities. She also makes a point of passing on her knowledge of robust, hands-on STEM activities with fellow educators through workshops and summer programs. Penn said she wants to encourage students in grades 6-8 to discover engineering because she would like them to be exposed to skills such as teaming, problem-solving, and research that transcend almost any career. Anthony Williams Anthony Williams, the third of this years award recipients, dropped out of college before eventually returning to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he earned a bachelors and a masters degree in industrial and manufacturing systems engineering. As a requirement of a National S cience Foundation Fellowship he received as a doctoral student at the University of Central Florida, Williams began working with middle school teachers in integrated science and noticed the potential impact these educators had on young people. In addition to teaching engineering, math and science classes for grades 9-12, Williams chartered a National Society of Black Engineers junior chapter three years ago. The eight runners-up in the 2013 DiscoverE Educator Awards program are Holly Erickson of the STEM Center in Fargo, N.D. Brian Gill of Lone Oak High School in Paducah, Ky., John Hammons from York High School in Yorktown, Va. Gabriela Jaramillo Cordero of Liceo Nocturno de Nicoya and Colegio Tecnico Profesional de Corralillo in Guanacaste, Costa Rica Branson Lawrence of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora, Ill. Mary Morgan from Derby High School in Derby, Kan. Kathleen Walsh of the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy in Bryn Mawr, Pa. and Mark Westlake, from Saint Th omas Academy in Mendota Heights, Minn.Teachers can be nominated for a DiscoverE Educator Award by either engineers or engineering students. Winners were selected by the National Engineers Week Foundation and its non-profit partners. Funding for the program is provided by ASME, the American Society of Civil Engineers, Bechtel, ExxonMobil and 3M.To learn more about the DiscoverE Educator Awards program and this years recipients, visit eweek.org/NewsStory.aspx?ContentID=302.