The Mid-Hudson Section ACS

2004
High School Teaching Award

 

ED ROGERS RECEIVES HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER AWARD

The Mid-Hudson Section is pleased to announce that Ed Rogers is the recipient of the 2004 High School Chemistry Teaching Award. 

 Mr. Ed Rogers has been a Chemistry teacher at Highland High School for over 30 years.  

The administration at Highland High School regards Mr. Rogers as a valued member of the faculty.  He has been active in coaching 

students for the Chemistry Olympiad for over 12 years with a number of students qualifying for the national level of the exam.

He coached students in chemistry laboratory competitions involving a number of colleges in the Albany area, resulting in two

 First Place finishes.  He has also contributed greatly to the articulation of the science curriculum at the high school.  Mr.

 Rogers is a regular presenter at the Science Teachers Association of New York State (STANYS) Conference.  The greatest impact he 

has made is through his ability to turn students on to science.  His teaching strategies are

student-centered and are able to address all learning styles. His is recognized by the administration as a true role model for 

students through his personal and professional demeanor.  His is cheerful, approachable, humorous and energetic.  His display of 

genuine love for teaching is evident to all who meet him.

He received his B.S. and M.A. in Chemistry from SUNY New Paltz.  In addition to teaching, Mr. Rogers has served as the secondary 

science department chair for the district since 1985.  He is also a Chemistry Instructor at SUNY New Paltz. 

Mr. Rogers will receive a plaque, $200 and a one-year subscription to the Journal of Chemical Education.  He will also be 

nominated for the regional award for Excellence in Chemistry Teaching.  Recipients of the regional award become candidates for 

the James Bryant Conant Award in High School Teaching sponsored by the Ethyl Corporation presented to the nation's best chemistry 

teacher.

 

2001
High School Teaching Award

The winner of the Mid-Hudson 2001 High School Teaching Award is Mrs. Chris Ann Slye.

Mrs. Chris Ann Slye is presently a teacher at Mahopac High School in Putnam County, New York.  Over the past twelve years, she has taught Advanced Placement Chemistry, Advanced Chemistry, and Regents Chemistry.  She has also implemented and instructs a Science Research course, which involves students in science and engineering experiments, and introduces them to current research technology.  Several of her students have competed in a number of scientific competitions and received many awards.

 

Mrs. Slye received her Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education at Clarion University in 1989 and her Master’s of Science degree in Chemical Education from the University of Pittsburgh in 1999.  Her Master’s thesis was “The Effect of Block Scheduling on Student Achievement in Chemistry.”

 

During the summers, Chris Ann has participated in university sponsored research.  In 2000, Chris Ann participated in a National Science Foundation grant at Carnegie Mellon University where she designed experiments for the freshmen Materials Science and Engineering classes.  In 1997, she synthesized Ketones and Esters for the University of Pittsburgh’s Chemistry Department.

 

Mrs. Slye has been the recipient of several prestigious awards.  She was named the 2001 American Chemical Society’s Mid-Hudson Chemistry Teacher of the Year, was awarded the 1999 American Vacuum Society’s John L. Vossen Memorial National Award, and was the recipient of the 2000 Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh’s Keivin Burns Award.

 

In 1997, Chris Ann Slye served on a panel for the Pennsylvania State Department of Education and wrote curriculum for the ETS National Teacher’s PRAXIS Exam in Chemistry.  She had also written curriculum for the associate degree in Chemical Process Technology at Westmoreland County Community College.

 

Mrs. Slye belongs to several professional societies.  She has served as the Education Group President of the for the Mid-Hudson, New York and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Chapters of the American Chemical Society, and is presently a member of the Iron and Steel Society, the American Society for Materials, the American Vacuum Society, the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh, and the Society of Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh.  She also belongs to the National Science Teacher’s Association and the National Education Association.

 

In September of 2001, Chris Ann and her husband William E. Slye, a Ph.D. researcher at Praxair, Inc., were blessed with the birth of their first child, Melisa Marie Slye.

2000
High School Teaching Award

The winner of the Mid-Hudson 2000 High School Teaching Award is Mrs. Donna Marrin.

Mrs. Marrin has taught chemistry at Onteora High School in Boiceville, NY (Ulster County) for twenty-six years. Her present position at Onteora is AP and Regents Chemistry Teacher. She holds a Master of Science degree in Chemistry from S.U.N.Y. at New Paltz and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from S.U.N.Y. at Brockport.

Mrs. Marrin knows the value of seeing scientific concepts in action. She has the knowledge and expertise to develop and incorporate interesting lab work and demonstrations into her curriculum. For example, she showed reaction rates by using the 1812 Overture. All the beakers were lined up and students dropped in the reactants at one time. The every time the cannons fired in the overture the solution in one of the beakers would change colors. The students just loved it.

Each year at the end of October, Mrs. Marrin decorates her lab with skeletons, cobwebs, a coffin, and other Halloween decorations. She dresses up in a witch's costume and puts on a chemistry Halloween show that includes demonstrations using liquid nitrogen. Besides her classes, she allows other classes to come see the show, also. At times there can be 40-50 students watching her chemistry witchcraft.

Mrs. Marrin not only does demonstrations herself but also has her AP students research reactions and demonstrations. They practice these and then perform them at the Junior High Science Fair each year. The Bennett Elementary School's sixth grade also comes to her lab each year for a demonstration lesson in chemistry. In fact, just last year one of her AP students remarked that was the day he decided he wanted to study chemistry.

Throughout her career, Mrs. Marrin has involved her students in science research and conferences. Her teams do quite well in the Science Olympiad each year. She has and continues to involve students in the Joseph Henry Lab Challenge at several Albany colleges. Here, teams of students compete in laboratory exercises. Her students always do well in these competitions. Mrs. Marrin's students have also done well in the Chemistry Olympiad, having students qualifying to take the national exam this year as she often has. She has sent and is sending students to the National Conference in Medicine.

Her students have participated in the Earthwatch Summer Challenge. This is a national program where high school students work along with scientists from all over the world. She has had students study in Arizona, Costa Rica, and Stanford University. The student at Stanford worked on the Human Genome Project.

One of the more rewarding experiences for some of Mrs. Marrin's students is being selected to the Roswell Park Cancer Research Summer Program. This is a highly selective program for international high school students. She has been able to place Onteora students in this program for over twenty years. One of her former students, Dr. Erica Berleth, is presently a researcher at Roswell Park, in fact. Mrs. Marrin knows chemistry isn't learned just in the classroom and has thus given her students many opportunities for enrichment.

Education is a constantly evolving profession. As technology has advanced so has the possibilities of incorporation of technology into the education process. Mrs. Marrin has embraced this evolution. She has her own web page and is constantly taking courses to update her knowledge on web page design. She applied for and received a school grant for a computer science lab. This lab is now set up with 24 Dell computers and appropriate PASCO equipment. The PASCO equipment includes probes for testing pH, temperature, pressure, and other variables. She has the students complete numerous chemistry labs in the computer lab, showing students that computers are not just for entertainment but serious tool to be used in scientific research. Mrs. Marrin has also participated in Marist College's "Science on the Move Program" funded by the National Science Foundation. In this program she was one of the lead chemistry teachers. As a lead teacher she was responsible for the direction of her team of teachers in the development of chemistry labs. In fact she was asked by one of the program founders to speak at the news conference where the check for the program was handed over to Marist College.

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3:45 PM 11/18/2000