{"id":28119,"date":"2024-03-11T19:01:07","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T19:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=28119"},"modified":"2024-03-11T19:01:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T19:01:37","slug":"challenger-center-and-aiaa-announce-2024-trailblazing-stem-educator-awardees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/aviation-education\/challenger-center-and-aiaa-announce-2024-trailblazing-stem-educator-awardees\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Challenger Center and AIAA Announce 2024 Trailblazing STEM Educator Awardees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Challenger Center<\/a> and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics<\/a> (AIAA) announce Jenn Donais, Sarah Leonard, and Darryl Newhouse as the winners of the 2024 Trailblazing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Educator Award. Each teacher and their respective schools will be awarded $5,000. Additionally, each teacher will receive free access to Challenger Center STEM programming, a trip to Washington, D.C., to be honored at the 2024 AIAA Awards Gala, and an invitation to attend a future space launch experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its third year, the award celebrates K-12 teachers who go\nabove and beyond to inspire the next generation of explorers and innovators.\nThe three winners come from schools across the United States and were selected\nfrom nearly 50 nominations. The nominations demonstrate the remarkable efforts\nteachers make every day to empower underserved and underrepresented students in\nSTEM while using unique strategies, tools, and lessons in and out of the\nclassroom to further energize students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2024 Trailblazing STEM Educator Award<\/a> recipients are (in alphabetical order by last name):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jenn Donais<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Jenn Donais, STEM Coach at Amesbury Middle School (Amesbury,\nMass.). With 15 years of education experience, Donais prepares students for\nSTEM careers through innovative STEM curricula, immersive STEM days, and career\nfairs. As an international STEM trainer, she has facilitated professional\ndevelopment sessions in the United Arab Emirates, collaborated with schools\nnationwide on STEM development, and has contributed to journals and other\nplatforms to improve STEM engagement. In collaboration with Challenger Learning\nCenter at the Christa McAuliffe Center, Framingham State University, Donais\nfounded the Massachusetts Teacher STEM Fair, providing students and teachers\nwith STEM engagement opportunities. She is a Presidential Award for Excellence\nin Mathematics and Science Teaching awardee, Project Lead The Way Lead Launch\nTeacher, and Google Certified Coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sarah Leonard<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Leonard, Career and Technical Education Department\nLead at Redding Middle School (Middletown, Del.). As an educator for 12 years,\nwith Project Lead The Way certification, Leonard creates inclusive and\nequitable learning environments for all students. This school year, Leonard\norganized STEM Connection Stations for the district\u2019s Education Showcase Night,\ncollaborated with NASA Johnson Space Center to secure the loan of an authentic\nNASA model for the school, and will be participating in the Civil Air Patrol\u2019s\nEducator Flight program. She serves as advisor for the National Junior Honor\nSociety and the STEM Connect Club, and she is a member of the Association for\nCareer and Technical Education, AIAA, and Civil Air Patrol. She has been\nhonored with the Delaware STEM Educator Award and 2024 Delaware District 2 VFW\nTeacher of the Year Award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Darryl Newhouse<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Darryl Newhouse, Engineering, Design, Mathematics, and\nRobotics Teacher at Foshay Learning Center (Los Angeles, Calif.). For more than\n25 years, Newhouse has been igniting students\u2019 passion and building excitement\nabout STEM through robotics and technology. He established an engineering\npathway for middle school and high school students, and successfully\nimplemented an academically rigorous program using Project Lead The Way\ncurriculum. As lead coach for the school\u2019s FIRST\u00c3\u00a2 Robotics team, he emphasizes not\nonly technical skills, but 21st-century skills like problem-solving, critical\nthinking, and team building, as well as community service. Through\nproject-based learning activities, he has made math and science more meaningful\nto students, preparing underrepresented and disadvantaged youth for\npost-secondary opportunities and STEM careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are thrilled to award Jenn, Sarah, and Darryl with the\n2024 Trailblazing STEM Educator Award. Not only do these educators create\nequitable STEM learning environments for students of all backgrounds, but they\nprovide opportunities for their students to experience real-life STEM careers,\nopening the possibilities for their futures,\u201d said Lance Bush, President and\nCEO of Challenger Center. \u201cWith educators like them, we are preparing an\ninspired and capable STEM workforce of tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. aerospace and defense industry leads the world in\ninnovation, while still facing challenges of staffing a properly skilled and\nqualified workforce. Crucial gaps in diversity, equity, and inclusion must be\naddressed \u2013 more STEM-literate graduates are needed, greater participation is\nneeded by women and ethnic minorities, and early retirements are creating a\ngrowing knowledge gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese three Trailblazing STEM Educator Award winners are\nremarkable educators! We believe teachers are invaluable to their communities.\nWe are pleased to fuel the work of these great educators with extra resources\nto help them continue going above and beyond. They are enabling a diverse and\nrobust STEM-literate next generation. Together, they are shaping the future of\naerospace,\u201d said Dan Dumbacher, CEO, AIAA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The winners will be recognized at the 2024 AIAA Awards Gala<\/a>, scheduled for May 15 at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.* The evening celebrates the most influential and inspiring individuals in aerospace. Tickets are available now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each winner can select from Challenger Center\u2019s suite of\nhands-on, simulated learning experiences based on their classes\u2019 needs. Center\nMissions, delivered at Challenger Learning Centers around the globe; Virtual\nMissions, delivered by Challenger Learning Center Flight Directors to students\nin and out of the classroom; and Classroom Adventures, digital experiences\ndelivered by teachers in their classrooms, bring classroom lessons to life\nthrough exciting Earth- and space-themed journeys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Challenger Center and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) announce Jenn Donais, Sarah Leonard, and Darryl Newhouse as the winners of the 2024 Trailblazing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Educator Award. Each teacher and their respective schools will be awarded $5,000. Additionally, each teacher will receive free access to Challenger Center STEM […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[144,98,115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aerospace-education","category-aviation-education","category-national-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28119"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28124,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28119\/revisions\/28124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}