Jennifer Childress Anchorage, AK | 7-12, Science, 2017

The official biography below was current at the time of the award.

Jennifer Childress has taught for over 20 years. She has spent the last 14 years teaching science and engineering courses at Dimond High School. She currently teaches 11-12th-grade Physics and Advanced Placement Physics. Previously, Jennifer taught at Cordova Junior/High School and Mears Middle School. Jennifer is passionate about helping students connect the concepts learned in a physics classroom with their life experiences. She incorporates many everyday applications of physics concepts in her teaching and encourages her students to contribute observations of physics they see happening in the world. Jennifer helped found the Engineering Academy at Dimond High. She is one of two teachers that developed and ran a program called Smart Girls Rock! The program exposes freshman and sophomore girls to engineers from Anchorage. The goal of this program is to encourage young women to pursue STEM careers. Jennifer co-presented a workshop on the Smart Girls Rock! program at a national conference in 2013. Jennifer serves as the chairperson for Dimond's Advanced Placement (AP) Committee and organizes full-length practice AP testing for over 300 students. Jennifer earned a B.S., cum laude, in physical science from Humboldt State University. She is certified in physical science education, science education, mathematics education and elementary education.

• High-resolution version of the official portrait photograph
• Awardee holding Presidential certificate with National Science Foundation Directorate for Education and Human Resources Assistant Director, Dr. Karen Marrongelle, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director, Dr. Kelvin K. Droegemeier, and National Science Foundation Chief Operating Officer, Dr. F. Fleming Crim
• High-resolution version of the teacher profile photograph

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