by Jeff Shmase
LYNNFIELD – As a kid, science bored Cheryl Sanderson.
Today she loves it and as evidenced by the Summer Street School-wide assembly that turned out to honor her last Friday, students and colleagues are fond of her as well.
In a surprise ceremony, the third-grade teacher was notified of her selection as a 2010 Amgen Award for Science Teaching Excellence (AASTE) grant recipient. Her successful application netted the school $5,000 to bolster its science curriculum, along with a $5,000 cash award for her.
The program featured presentations from Superintendent of Schools Robert Hassett, Selectman Arthur Bourque, fourth-grader Alberto Benitez, Amgen Foundation representative Christopher Barr and Cindy Schott, a retired teacher who is serving as interim math/science/technology curriculum specialist.
It was Schott who Sanderson credits for changing the way she felt about science. Schott introduced Sanderson to a Museum of Science program called Engineering is Elementary (EiE) in which Sanderson serves as an instructor who field tests new programs in the school. The program, coupled with the hands-on method of the science curriculum at Summer Street, has not only energized Sanderson but also her students as well.
“The kids do a phenomenal job with the science units and being really invested in the subject matter,” said Sanderson, who in 2001 was a semifinalist for Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. “I’m excited about it because they are excited about it.”
School Principal Jane Tremblay said Sanderson creates a learning environment where kids are involved through interactive instruction.
“To understand learning you have to be engaged and motivated,” Tremblay said. “Any teacher can read a workbook, but Cheryl brings real world experience into the classroom which excites the kids. When they see how engaged and passionate Cheryl is that becomes contagious.”
Sanderson said she was shocked and overwhelmed by the award. She spent two months preparing and tweaking the application, getting assistance from Tremblay, Schott and others.
“This was a whole team effort,” she said.
Tremblay said she wanted to invite the student body to the award ceremony so they could share in Sanderson’s achievement.
“We celebrate students’ success all the time and this assembly provided us a great opportunity for students to see that teachers are working as hard as they are and are invested in seeing students succeed,” Tremblay said.
Sanderson said she is anxious to bring the funding from the award into the classroom.
“I love science and I’m so happy everybody (grades K-4) will get to benefit from this,” she said.
Sanderson is one of four AASTE winners selected from Massachusetts this year by the California-based biotechnology company that has been honoring science teachers for their creativity and innovation since 1992, ironically the same year Sanderson joined the Summer Street School. (Amgen has a facility in Cambridge).
Also attending the assembly were Sanderson’s husband, Michael, her oldest son, Christopher, and School Committee Chair Dorothy Presser.
