Friday, June 29

After the excitement of last night, I forgot to mention that in honor of my Dad and Kathy, I wore the necklace that they gave me for winning this award.  I think Kathy said it was a trembling diamond (or something like that - it moves with the slightest motion to create a very unique effect).

Today I wore the necklace that my best friend, Sue, gave me for being a state finalist for PAEMST.  That necklace is a key because she said,"You am the key to my students' success."  The necklace worked very well with my newly purchased blouse and half-sweater that I got from the Dress Barn Outlet in Oshkosh.  The sales woman who helped me was really patient and really knew what she was doing.  I highly recommend that store!  She's the one who picked out my dress - something I would never have thought to wear.

Today was the White House tour/Obama administration meeting day.  We lined up alphabetically outside the Willard in 90 degree heat and made our way across the street to the entrance to the White House.  There are lots of temporary barriers for crowd control that limit access to various places near the Ellipse.  One place that was closed off was the place we first showed IDs to enter.  Two more times of showing IDs and a metal detector later and we were in the White House.  We got to see the Library, Vermeil Room, China Room, East Room, Blue Room, Red Room, and State Dining Room on the tour.  After this, Ron and I split up and I went with the PAEMST group to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building for a series of meetings.

At the EEOB, I saw closed doors that said "White House Counsel", "National Security Director" and other parts of the govenment that you only hear about and never realize have an actual office somewhere. 

Sometime around 3:00 we lined up again.  Now you need to realize that we have been grouped and lined up in many different ways for the past 3 days.  This time we lined up in height order from tallest to shortest.  Guess who was 3rd from the end?  I think I should have been farther along in the line!

We descended 5 flights of curved stairs and went to a non-descript small auditorium where we lined up on a stage with risers and awaited Vice President Joe Biden and Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden.  The two Delaware teachers were pulled out and had a private conversation with the Bidens.  That was cool!

Sometime later the Bidens came in told us storeis of Jill's career (she is a full time community college professor and takes grading with her where ever she goes).  Joe told lots of stories and did some politicing before they took their places in the middle of the 2nd row - right in front of me!  Two clicks later and it seemed we were all finished.  A teacher from Alabama didn't realize that the photo was being taken and thought she was fixing her hair so called out to Biden to ask if we could have a redo.  He hammed it up and she and he had a couple of impromptu shots before we retook the official photos.  When it was over, Biden started shaking hands and eventually suggested that everyone get a hand shake.  I was actually the 3rd one to greet him and he commented about my being in the middle of all the commotion about the photo.  Many of the people who came later had their photos taken individually with VP Biden.  What an incredible experience!

The closing ceremonies were held back at the Willard.  This is a picture of me and Joan Christen who lives on a farm and teaches in Nebraska. 

I hope this award opens up new opportunities that will allow me to continue teaching but to also give back to my profession.

Afterwards Ron and I embarked on a trek to find some geocaches and to try to hit all of the monuments as dusk approached.  The temperature was still about 95 degrees when we started and we were semi-successful in our quest.  We found Albert, but didn't rub his nose for good luck.

We also saw the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, Thomas Jefferson Memorial (from a distance), District of Columbia War Memorial, World War II Memorial, and Washington Memorial (from a distance).

So ends our PAEMST/Washington, DC adventure.  Maybe when I get home I'll really be able to process everything that has happened these past 3 days.







Thursday, June 28

Today was the big day and it started bright and early at 6:45 AM with a trip to NSF in Arlington, VA.  After a nice breakfast, we went to the National Science Board Room where many of us sat at the biggest table I've ever seen.  I didn't take any pictures because I realized I didn't bring a charger for the camera and wanted to make sure the batteries lasted!

After a nice intro about what NSF does, we heard 3 sessions about specific programs.  I've heard of Research Experiences for Teachers and Einstein Fellowships, but not the Noyce Program.

In the afternoon, I met with Representatives Petri and Ribble.  That was a fun experience!  Rep. Petri had lots of neat old pictures of Berlin, Ripon, and other locations in his office.

At 5:45 the group of awardees walked over to the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center for our rehersal.  It was like graduation rehersal all over again!  Who would ever have thought 97 math and science teachers would act like giddy teenagers.

At 7:00 the ceremony started and I didn't trip or have my shoe fall off as I made my way to my seat (Row E, Seat 3).  Right behind me was Michael Tamblyn, the math awardee from Wisconsin.

Pamela O'Neil (Deputy Assistant Director, EHR, NSF) and Cora Marrett (Deputy Director, NSF and former UW-Madison professor and other bigwig) gave the opening remarks.  Dr. Marrett mentioned me and 2 other awardees in her speech.  That was a big surprise!

I was #94 of 96 teachers to cross the stage.  Even wearing high heel torture shoes, I had no mishaps as I got my certificate, shook hands with Dr. O'Neil, Dr. Marrett, and Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.  There will be a better picture on the official website.

After the ceremony Michael and I had met for a photo of the two Wisconsin winners (and I had a slight wardrobe malfunction) and I asked Dr. Marrett for a photo of the two of us together.



This was truly a night to remember.  Unfortunately just before the ceremony began we were informed that President Obama will be traveling to Colorado to visit with the victims of the fires tomorrow so we will not have an opportunity to meet him.  We'll still have the White House tour and will have a photo taken with the Second Lady, Dr. Jill Biden who is a community college teacher.

Thanks to Ronnie for always supporting me during my 20 year teaching career.  He has been there from the beginning in 1989 when I took my first education class at UW-Madison.  I love you so much!

Wednesday, June 27

Wow!  This has been an incredible day.  It started at 7:00 AM with registration and a photo session at 8:08 AM.  Breakfast and meet and greet followed and I met several outstanding math and science teachers from across the US.  I enjoyed one of the meet and greet sessions with other teachers from the Great Lakes/Upper Midwest region. It was interesting to see how teachers in WI, MI, MN, and IA worked with local industry and universities to build relationships.  Appleton East seems pretty lucky with our relationships with UWGB (Lower Fox River Watershed Monitoring Program) and UWO (SHArK Project).

After a lunch with other science teachers where Next Generation Science Standards were discussed, we learned how to craft a message and talking points for media and congressional meetings.  I never thought about doing this!  Think of a triangle with the message inside and the 3 points of the triangle containing supporting data or anecdotal evidence.  We also came up with talking points to be on message.

After the official activities, the American Chemical Society met with the 4 teachers who are both PAEMST awardees and ACS members.  We received a goodie bag that included a really cool cookbook and got our picture taken with our new "Chemistry Ambassador" sashes.  I guess our photo is going to be on www.facebook.co/ChemistryAmbassadors.  I haven't looked to see if we're there, yet.

Our geocaching trek was for naught because the 2 virtuals we were going to try to get today (near one of yesterday's finds) were in closed off areas in the Ellipse.  Ron is going to try again tomorrow.

We walked to the Decatur House for dinner on a very warm evening.

Dinner tonight was at the historic Decatur House.  The china was from President Obama's inaugral luncheon.

Dinner was great!  The keynote speaker was the White House Assistant Chef, Sam Kass.  He spoke about the White House garden and Let's Move initiative. 

After dinner we strolled past the White House on the way back to the Willard.  Tomorrow is an early start (6:45 AM) as we head to the National Science Foundation.  Afterward I meet with Congressman Ribble and Congressman Petri.  We'll finish the evening with the actual award ceremony; the reality of this is beginning to sink in!

Tuesday, June 26

This blog should probably be called PAEMST 2011 even though this event is taking place in 2012.  Oh well, I can't figure out how to edit the title, so here goes! 

We left Madison early this morning and had an uneventful plane ride to Washington, D.C. Took the Metro way ! A 40 lb suitcase on wheels is easier to handle than without wheels, but things were getting a little tense between me and Ron.

We eventually saw the error of our ways and headed back the other direction.  The Willard Intercontinental is a beautiful hotel.  I remember walking past this hotel when I was in DC about 5 years ago for a Chemistry Olympiad meeting.

I unpacked and then we hit the town to do some geocaching and to eventually find some food.  We wandered down Pennsylvania Ave - first towards the White House where we saw the White House Garden and the now non-existent National Christmas Tree. 

We continued our walk in the other direction and I noticed a familiar building in the distance and had to pay homage to my favorite TV series of all time - The X-Files.  Too bad we couldn't take a tour!

After finding a few more caches - including actual, signable ones, we found a restaurant for dinner.  La Tasca serves authentic Spanish tapas.  We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, but took the plunge.  (I kept forgetting to take pictures of the food before we started eating!)

A couple more geocaches on the way back to the hotel allowed us to work off some of the delicious food. 

Now I have to do some ironing to get my "business traditional" outfit ready for tomorrow.  What to wear has actually been the most stressful part of planning for this event!  I'm by no means someone a clothes hound! 

Tomorrow - orientation, meet and greet, and professional development session during the day followed by the keynote address in the evening.  I can't wait to get started!