Sara-Elizabeth Senseney Burnsville, NC | 7-12, Science, 2023

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

Sara-Elizabeth “Sallie” Senseney has taught at Mountain Heritage High School for 14 years. She teaches 9th-12th grade students in Earth Science, Biology, and Advanced Placement Biology, leads STEM-focused clubs, and serves as the Science Department Chair. Sallie is a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for STEM Teachers recipient and coordinates science professional development for K-12 teachers in her district through the award. Sallie believes that anchoring science in real-world phenomena creates meaningful learning experiences for all students. She provides hands-on learning opportunities to anchor students’ understanding of science. Sallie’s students study nature by inspecting study plots in the forest on campus, and they collect macroinvertebrates in a nearby river to learn about bioindicators of water quality. Sallie is passionate about exploring the world and learning from other teachers. She has traveled to India, Finland, Estonia, and Sweden to visit schools and participate in cultural exchanges and recently experienced the magic of winter in Yellowstone National Park as an Educator of Excellence with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. During the 2022-2023 school year, Sallie was a fellow with the North Carolina Education Policy Fellowship Program. Sallie received a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in biological sciences from Clemson University. She is a National Board Certified Teacher and holds certifications in high school biology and high school general science.

• High-resolution version of the teacher profile photograph

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