Five Project Lead The Way teachers from across the country were some of the 218 teachers named by President Obama as recipients of the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. The recipients traveled to Washington, D.C. for an awards ceremony on Sept. 8 and met with members of the Administration.
Christopher Benshoof
Lathrop High School
Alaska
Bryan Silver
Kalani High School
Hawaii
Lesley Uraski
Saratoga Middle High School
Wyoming
Eliza Akana
Pu’u Kukui Elementary School
Hawaii
James O’Malley
Thomas A. Edison Elementary School
Illinois
Christopher Benshoof, one of the award recipients, teaches the PLTW Engineering course Digital Electronics at Lathrop High School in Fairbanks North Star Borough School District in Alaska. Benshoof completed Core Training over the summer at Auburn University in Alabama. For him, PLTW has been a learning experience for both his students and himself.
“It’s definitely a new part of my career and teaching,” he said. “The students that connect to the program build a wide range of engineering skills, and are very good at what they do and what they learn.”
Another recipient, Bryan Silver, teaches Introduction to Engineering Design at Kalani High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, and also sees PLTW as a new part of his career.
“Looking for the next challenge is the best part of my job,” he said. “Teaching them the design process and how it relates to life, not just the class at hand, really gets the students to see the larger connection of school and home.”