What being selected as a Presidential Awardee means to me is that it represents a vast expansion of the network I have built for my community over the last ten years. To date, our inter-classroom connections and interaction with the science community has defaulted to state boundaries, but now it will stretch across the nation. I see an ocean of future possibilities for my Deer Isle students, Maine teachers, and myself.

Michele Flores Deer Isle, ME | K-6, Science, 2020

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

Michele “Mickie” Flores has been a science educator since 1985, teaching middle level science the last 10 years at Deer-Isle Stonington Elementary School. Previously, she taught chemistry at HC Williams High School for six years, middle level science at JM McKenney Middle School for 15 years concurrently with science methods courses at the State University of New York at Potsdam, and began her career with five years of science teaching at Immaculate Conception School. Currently, Mickie teaches fifth through seventh grade science. Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, Mickie’s fifth and sixth graders monitored birds’ use of the bird feeder located on the school nature trail. They estimated cloud cover, recorded bird activity, graphed their data, and published their conclusions online. During the spring of 2021, Mickie’s sixth and seventh grade students collaborated with students in San Diego, California and Honolulu, Hawaii to create an 80-page comic book on climate change. They interviewed local scientists as well as a comic book illustrator and created graphic nonfiction comics from their interviews. Their goal was to have a voice in educating the public about the causes, effects, and solutions to the climate crisis. Mickie currently serves on the Teacher Advisory Group for the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance and the Hancock County Teaching Collaborative of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. Recent efforts resulted in a Rethinking Remote Education Ventures grant to create an accessible boardwalk and Outdoor Classroom for the school’s nature trail. Mickie holds a B.S. from Cornell University, an M.S. from Elmira College, and is certified for Middle Level Science in Maine.

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