A collaborative effort between the Delaware STEM Council and the Delaware Foundation for Science and Mathematics Education (DFSME), the STEM Educator Awards has once again gathered together STEM educators, advocates, and leaders from across the state to recognize Delaware’s best in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education.
The awards celebration was made possible by the evening’s title sponsor, Ashland, as well as sponsors DuPont, Agilent, LabWare, Verizon, & Spekciton Biosciences LLC.
This year’s awards ceremony, which went virtual for the first time in its history, signaled a profound milestone for educators who are nearing the end of an unprecedented and taxing school year - one fraught with novel and unforeseen challenges. With school closures and the complete transition to remote learning, teachers and students alike have been forced to rethink education and to find the opportunity amidst the chaos.
“Our focus on the power of these educational superstars to expose students to experiences that will unleash their individual potentials, and thus light the path toward a brighter future, is truly commendable, and definitely merits our applause,”
— Keynote Speaker Dr. Susan Bunting, Delaware Secretary of Education
STEM Council Co-Chairs Teri Quinn Gray and Judson Wagner appeared live from Buena Vista to introduce the evening’s various speakers and to reveal the Certified STEM Educator Award winners across the elementary, middle, and high school levels. First-place winners in each category received up to $6,000 in unrestricted cash prizes.
Certified STEM Educator Award Winners
Elementary School level:
Leona Williams, 4th grade teacher, Forwood Elementary School, Brandywine School District.
Middle School level:
Samuel Fawks, Stephen Lee, Stella Evans, Anarie Rio - a team of 4 teachers, P.S. DuPont Middle School, Brandywine School District.
High School level, three winners include:
1st place: Rebecca Sheahan, agriculture educator, McKean HS, Red Clay Consolidated School District
Tying for 2nd place: Melanie Mundell, a biotechnology instructor at Newark Charter Junior/Senior HS, and Elise Knable, a CTE instructor at Caesar Rodney HS, Caesar Rodney School District.
Following these awards, a new honor, the Inaugural Community STEM Awards, was debuted with the intention of recognizing community-focused educators who may not operate in a traditional classroom setting. The new awards were presented by DFSME board member PJ Simon.
Inaugural Community STEM Award Winners
Elementary School level:
Jacqueline Means, often referred to as the “STEM Queen,” is in the class of 2024 at the University of Delaware studying Neuroscience and is the founder of the Wilmington Urban STEM Initiative.
Middle School level:
Deborah Liczwek is the Director of Elementary and Middle School Educational Outreach at STRIDE, (Science and Technology Research Institute of Delaware) and former research manager at DuPont.
Another new honor, the Inaugural Jon Manon STEAM Awards, recognizes a team of teachers that have collaborated within their school to achieve outstanding accomplishments, with coordinated team planning, execution, collaboration, and administrative support for collective, interdisciplinary activities and unique opportunities for students. The Award provides a cash award of $1,000 for the teachers to use to support and publicize student projects how the STEAM education of their students has been improved to make them more competitive in the future Delaware STEM workforce.
Jon Manon STEAM Award Winners
Chris Welborn, Megan Bone, Armondo Karl, Lars Jensen, Kim Davis, Crystal Samuels, Mark McKenzie – STEAM Team educators, William Penn High School, Colonial School District.
Congratulations to the winners were extended by Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long, accompanied by Gov. John Carney, Sens. Chris Coons and Tom Carper, and Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester who sent video messages thanking STEM educators for their excellent work in Delaware schools.
“It takes a village to come together, to uplift, and to educate our children.
To the educators who pondered throughout this challenging year with online classes, ‘Am I making a difference?’
You ARE making a difference, and we all say Thank You!”
— Bethany Hall-Long, Lieutenant Governor
The evening of celebrations would not have been possible without Delaware STEM Council Executive Director Dan Suchenski’s continued commitment to the mission of Delaware STEM and its educators.
“This has been an exceptional year for the Delaware STEM Educator Awards,” Suchenski said. “The quality of the teachers applying, the expansion of the awards to include community educators, and the diligence of our partners and sponsors is truly impressive. After a year that has generated an enormous amount of uncertainties, I am humbled by so many Delawareans coming together to make the 6th annual awards so successful for our educators, who work tirelessly for our students across the state."
Applications Are Now Being Accepted!
The 7th Annual Delaware STEM Education Awards were announced as open by Teri Quinn Gray, inviting educators to access applications by visiting delawarestem.org.
To view the recording of the 2020 Delaware Stem Council Awards Event, click here.
