Receiving this award is a dream come true. I’m honored to share my passion for teaching science while pushing students to think critically, question injustice, and make a positive difference. I am grateful to my students who help me to be a better teacher and person every year, my amazing colleagues who encourage me to take risks and challenge myself, and our school community which is a constant source of support. I am so lucky to have the opportunity daily to share the magic of science.

Jan Schuettpelz Washington, DC | K-6, Science, 2022

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

Jan Schuettpelz has been an educator for 26 years. She has spent the last seven years teaching sixth grade integrated science at Oyster Adams Bilingual School. Previously, she taught for four years at Alice Deal Middle school as a seventh grade biology teacher. Before that, she taught fourth through tenth grade science for 12 years at D.C Virgo Preparatory Academy, Holly Shelter Middle School, Durham School of the Arts, and R.N Harris Elementary School. She spent her first three years teaching various levels of elementary science at Forest Home Avenue Elementary School. Currently, Adams is the only DC public school that teaches integrated science. Jan is one of the leaders that made this happen and works as Science Department Chair to refine and enrich this spiraled curriculum. Jan also teaches sixth grade sex education where she designed and developed a body-positive, consensual-based, and inclusive curriculum. Jan is passionate about equity in education. As such, she runs the HERinitiative club that focuses on social projects such as yearly toy drives, organizing a 5K for COVID relief for her community, and fundraising and collecting products for many initiatives, including the Period Project. In 2021, Jan presented at the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Area Conference, talking about infusing social justice into design engineering labs. Jan also presented about design engineering labs at the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) virtual conference. Jan earned a B.S. in urban elementary education from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and her M.Ed. in middle school science education from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Jan is a National Board Certified Teacher. She is certified in middle grades science.

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