This is your invitation to join with the rest of the Oklahoma Science Teachers Association in a reception honoring this year’s recipients of the OSTA Awards. Join as we celebrate the accomplishments and achievements of outstanding science educators from across the state. The reception will be held on downtown OKC on Film Row at the Dunlap-Codding Law Firm. Doors open at 6:30 pm and the awards program will begin at 7:00. The address is 609 W. Sheridan. DC on Film Row is an exciting place within a burgeoning new community on the west side of downtown. See more about it on their website video.
When you register for the conference, be sure to check your attendance at the OSTA Awards Reception on Friday, October 31st. There is no additional charge for the reception. Already registered? You can modify your registration through your user profile in OSTA Memberclicks.
This year’s honorees are:
The Jack Renner Award for Service to Science Education in Oklahoma – Dr. Bruce Weems, East Central University.
Dr. Weems has worked at ECU since 1972. He was a physics professor, physics department chair, and since 1991 Dean of the College of Health and Sciences. He has helped many a department chair, faculty member, and student with every aspect of science education during his tenure. He always says “every physics teacher we put in the schools only help us out by sending us good students in physics”.
But it is also for his work with the Oklahoma State Science & Engineering Fair (a.k.a. OSSEF) that OSTA recognizes Dr. Weems with the Jack Renner Award. Bruce took over as director for the OSSEF in 1982. He helped run the fair with Dr. Don Kellogg before 1982. Weems fought for funding, selected the best regional sites, found volunteers, judges, and worked the paperwork end as science fair director until 2006. He called every student and gave them a chance to turn in the missing paperwork so that they could compete. Bruce Weems took on the additional job of science fair director because he saw the benefit of students doing research as a way of learning before many recognized the benefit. Many of these science fair students have made significant impacts in science and engineering. Each year some 300 students attend the Oklahoma state fair each year and through the work of Dr. Weems approximately 7500 students have experienced the state science fair. He will retire from East Central University in Dec. 2014 after 42 years of service to ECU science.
High School Science Teacher – Amy Clardy, Haworth High School
Over the last five years, Amy has been a member of the National Science Teacher Association as well as a member of the Oklahoma Science Teacher Association. Amy has attended numerous professional development opportunities including with the K20 center, AP Central Institutes, Steve Spangler Workshops and the OSTA Fall Science Conference. She was a Master Teacher with the Oklahoma State Department of Education for two years, and was given the opportunity to present at the SDE regional summer conference each year. A prolific grant writer, over the last five years, Amy has written and awarded funding from the Fund for Teachers to attend a professional development workshop in San Antonio, the Dream Team grant with the K20 center, and a KIPR (BOTBALL) grant to enable her students to build and write code for their very first school robot. Amy holds with a Masters in Educational Leadership.
Middle School Teacher – Dr. Geary Crofford, Woodall School, Tahlequah
Dr. Crofford is currently completing an M.E. in Teaching and pursuing National Board Certification, was designated a Cherokee Scholar in 2014 by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence and a DaVinci/Martin Scholar in 2010. He has evaluated several grant programs, and received two First Robotics grants from OSDE. He attended the NSTA STEM Forum in New Orleans this past summer as a Cherokee Scholar, and is currently part of the Higher Ground-STEM Math/Science Program hosted by Altus Public Schools and Western Oklahoma State College. Dr. Crofford is not only a dedicated teacher in the classroom with his students of all ability and grade levels but he also carries out research with relevance to his teaching. He believes in hands-on experiences for all of his students and helping them to develop important concepts and apply them. He encourages his students to see themselves in STEM majors and careers and has dedicated himself especially to members of his tribe, the Cherokee Nation.
Elementary School Teacher – Megan Veldhuizen. Woodland Hills Elementary, Lawton
Megan teacher a transitional 1st grade classroom at Woodland Hills who’s philosophy is that all children can do science and that science is just as important as the other subjects. She teaches young children lab safety and then lets them do actual labs, writing grants to fund projects in her classroom. She has taken on leadership positions in her school and is part of OkSci Leadership.
The OSTA Awards Reception is generously underwritten by our partners from the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board and Pearson.
