Being selected for the Presidential Award is an outstanding honor. This process challenged me, prompted deep reflection, and continues to help me grow professionally. I am grateful for the support from my family, friends, colleagues, and mentors. Thank you to the parents who entrust me with their children. I give credit to my students; their curiosity, hard work, sense of humor, and enthusiasm make teaching a rewarding profession.

Charity Penn Douglas, WY | 7-12, Science, 2023

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

Charity Penn has been a science educator for 23 years and has spent the last five years teaching seventh grade science at Douglas Middle School. Previously, she taught a variety of courses at Douglas High School, including Biology, Integrated Science, Earth Science, Biology 1000, and Biology 1010. She began her science teaching career at Wright Junior Senior High School. Believing all students can learn and achieve at high levels, Charity cultivates a classroom culture that utilizes phenomena exploration, reinforces inquiry, and builds growth mindset in her students. She often partners with other disciplines within the school to build cross-curricular learning experiences for students. Charity believes in building lifelong learners in her classroom and models it by continuing to participate in various professional development opportunities at the district, state, and national levels. She regularly collaborates with both her middle school and district science teams. Representing Wyoming at the NextGen TIME (Transforming Implementation through Materials Evaluation) pilot Leadership Institute, she utilized the tools and processes to support her district in evaluating, selecting, and implementing three dimensional and NGSS aligned science curricular materials. Charity has been nominated multiple years by both parents and students as the Converse County School District #1 Teacher of the Year. In 2018, she was named Wyoming Middle School Coach of the Year. Charity earned a B.A. in biology education from Concordia College and a M.S. in natural science from the University of Wyoming. She has biology 6-12 and middle school certifications.

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