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Kilili bill will expand award for NMI’s STEM teachers
Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) introduced the STEM Educator Awards Equity Act on Friday to expand the annual Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching to include the Marianas and other insular areas individually.
Award finalists from the Northern Marianas, Guam, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands are currently chosen as a group, unlike the 50 states, Puerto Rico and Department of Defense schools. If enacted, Sablan’s bill would mean one teacher from each insular area could be recognized each year.
“The purpose of the award program is to inspire excellence and provide a role model for other local STEM educators to emulate,” Sablan said. “But if no Marianas teacher is recognized that purpose is not fulfilled. My bill fixes that problem for our teachers and for STEM teachers in all the insular areas.”
The Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, established in 1983, are the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government specifically for K-12 science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and/or computer science teaching. Recipients receive a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation and participate in expert-led training and collaboration opportunities during their visit to Washington, D.C.
Awards are given to teachers from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Department of Defense Education Activity schools, and the U.S. territories as a group. By disaggregating the grouping for U.S. territories, Sablan’s bill would enable teachers from the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands to be represented each year, without competing with teachers from other insular areas.
Eleven teachers from the Northern Marianas have received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching since the program’s creation. The most recent awardee is 2018 recipient Joseph John Muña, who received the award while teaching at William S. Reyes Elementary School on Saipan. (PR)
