Gail Bost Vawter, a seventh-grade teacher at Springfield Middle School in Fort Mill, S.C., has been selected as one of 50 middle and high school educators from across the country to take part in the Siemens STEM Institute fellowship, designed to bring teachers to the cutting edge of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.
The Siemens STEM Institute is a one-of-a-kind, all-expense-paid weeklong immersion program that promotes hands-on, real-world integration of STEM in the classroom. The Siemens STEM Institute is Aug. 4-9 just outside of Washington, D.C., at the headquarters of Discovery Communications, a nonfiction media company and home to such television networks as Discovery Channel, Science and Animal Planet.
Vawter is 1976 graduate of East Rowan High School. Her father and step-mother, Lucious Ray and Velma Bost, live in Salisbury.
Vawter and the other selected educators will be exposed to leading scientists, thought-leaders, personalities and innovators whose work across STEM disciplines shape and define our world today. The week will be filled with guest speakers at the forefront of STEM, field trips to leading institutions where fellows will observe real-world applications of STEM subject matter, and opportunities for networking and collaborating with peers from across the nation.
The goal of the Siemens STEM Institute is to create a group of STEM ambassadors who can take what they learn this summer back into their own classrooms and become key influencers in their schools and communities. The Siemens STEM Institute specifically sought applicants who wanted to become STEM leaders and help change the way STEM subjects are taught in American classrooms.
Capital University in Ohio announced Chelsea Silvers of Salisbury was named to the president’s list for the spring 2013 semester.
The president’s list indicates the highest level of academic distinction achieved among full-time, degree-seeking students. To be named to the president’s list, students must have achieved a grade point average of at least 3.85.
Kannapolis resident and Azusa Pacific University student Meredith Gentle made the academic dean’s list at APU.
Gentle is honored for a spring semester 2013 academic standing of a 3.5 or better grade-point average. Gentle is joined by 1,678 other students receiving the same honor.
The agriculture program at South Rowan High School in China Grove has been selected as the 2013 North Carolina Outstanding Middle/Secondary School Agricultural Education Program.
This award, given by the National Association of Agricultural Educators, recognizes the nation’s most successful agricultural education programs by highlighting the local programs and teachers that achieve success. Winners are educators who have developed an outstanding agricultural education program at either the middle school or high school level.
Applicants are judged on a variety of criteria, including teaching philosophy, effective classroom and experiential instruction, development of partnerships and professional growth.
The South Rowan High School agriculture program competed against Outstanding Middle/Secondary School Agricultural Education Program award winners from surrounding states for the opportunity to be named the 2013 Region V NAAE Outstanding Middle/Secondary School Agricultural Education Program. Regional winners will receive a plaque and expense-paid trip to attend the 2013 NAAE convention.
The Outstanding Middle/Secondary School Agricultural Education Program award is partially sponsored by Monsanto as a special project of the National FFA Foundation.
NAAE is the professional organization in the United States for agricultural educators. It provides its nearly 8,000 members with professional networking and development opportunities, professional liability coverage and awards and recognition programs. The NAAE headquarters are in Lexington, Ky.