The Presidential Award is a seal of prestige that shows excellence in teaching STEM related concepts. For me, it is a reward for my ongoing dedication to my craft and, most importantly, my dedication to my students. This award also means that I have a newfound responsibility to foster Presidential Award nominees and winners on my campus as well as on my island. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to be recognized among incredible teachers across the country.

Andre Douglas St. Thomas, VI | 7-12, Mathematics, 2023

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

Andre Douglas has spent the last 13 of his 14 years teaching mathematics at the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School. He currently teaches Advanced Placement Calculus and Algebra II. For his first year of teaching, he was an adjunct professor at the University of the Virgin Islands, a position he currently maintains. As the Mathematics Department Chairperson at Kean High, Andre assists colleagues by guiding curriculum and pedagogical practices through professional development and ongoing mentorship. One of his most recent talks, entitled "Using Error Analysis to Foster Mathematical Discourse," allowed teachers to engage in and model best practices using data that students provide daily. Andre believes it is important for students to make sense of abstract ideas. He has used M&Ms and Blow Pops to simulate composite functions as well as the chain rule. He also regularly uses applications that allow students to explore functions graphically in different contexts in order to build conceptual understanding of challenging ideas. In an effort to spread the joy of mathematics across campus, Andre organized Kean's first schoolwide Pi Day celebration. The day consisted of pi recitals, math games, hula hoop and 3-point competitions, and of course pie! Andre earned a B.A., summa cum laude, in mathematics and a master's degree in mathematics for secondary education from the University of the Virgin Islands.

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