The reason I became a teacher was to make a difference in the lives of our brilliant young students and to motivate them to become lifelong learners. Receiving the Presidential Award is a very proud and humbling honor. It reflects the tremendous support I received in my 20-year career from administrators, colleagues, parents, students, and family. This award inspires me to continue to set high expectations for my students and to improve my practice so I can become a better teacher.

Bruce Williams Trenton, NJ | K-6, Mathematics, 2020

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

Bruce Williams has been an educator in the Trenton Public School District for more than 20 years. He has spent the last 12 years teaching sixth grade mathematics at Hedgepeth-Williams Middle School of the Arts. He previously taught at Joyce Kilmer Middle School for eight years. Bruce has a passion for mathematics and science and supports all STEM activities. He regularly incorporates LEGO Robotics into his mathematics curriculum. Students have the opportunity to build, program, and make connections by applying mathematics concepts to make real-world situations using the EV3 LEGO Robots. He is also the advisor for the school’s Robotics Club. In addition, since 2007, he has entered his students in the annual Future City Competition. This competition is a project-based learning program where students imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future. Keeping mathematics, engineering design, and teamwork front and center, students are constantly asked: How can we make the world a better place? Bruce has participated in NASA's Reduced Gravity Education Program, a program which enables educators the opportunity to design, fly, and evaluate a reduced gravity experiment. As a result of this professional development, he is able to bring more STEM activities in the classroom to improve student learning. He truly understands the importance of differentiated instruction because students and educators learn at different rates and have different learning styles. Bruce has a B.S. in engineering from Florida A&M University and an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland Global Campus. He is a certified elementary, mathematics, and science teacher.

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