Jacqueline Lewis

Enterprise, MS | 7-12, Mathematics, 2021

What motivates you to contribute to excellence in STEM teaching?

The greatest challenge in our efforts to attract more high-tech industry to Mississippi, is the lack of the needed talent pool. Mississippi is a state comprised primarily of small rural towns with minimal exposure to advanced technologies so workforce development MUST begin in the schools. This requires a foundational investment in teacher training since there are very few teachers with a technology background. I am committed to exposing as many students and training as many teachers as we can.

What has been the most transformative moment that affirmed your impact on STEM education?

My moments of affirmation are constant! In 2012 I began teaching at a small rural high school in a county with no high tech industry. Even my strongest Algebra students told me their career aspirations were in various trades or the medical field - their only exposures. During the following 13 years, I introduced AP Computer Science and started a successful robotics program at that school. Now we have many students who have entered post-secondary studies in computer science and engineering! One student from that 2012 Algebra class is now a Mechanical Engineer who came back to his alma mater to help me start the robotics program. Two of my AP CS students are currently studying computer science at the University of Oxford, England this summer!

Using your platform as a Presidential Awardee, how do you hope to advance our nation in STEM?

I will continue to work with the Center for Cyber Education at Mississippi State University to advance computer science teacher training in Mississippi and will continue to advocate to the legislature on behalf of this effort. Economic growth in Mississippi is becoming more and more dependent upon our ability to attract high-tech companies. Until those companies arrive, most students will not be exposed to advanced technologies unless it is through the schools.

Biography

Jacqueline Lewis is a National Board Certified Teacher who has spent 20 years inspiring her high school students to explore their interests in mathematics, computer science, and robotics. Before becoming a teacher, she enjoyed a 17-year career in VLSI design automation at Bell Northern Research and the GE Microelectronics Center, and in telecommunications software development at Nortel Networks where she earned the John Roth CEO "Top Talent" award. Early in her teaching career, Lewis developed a successful classroom management strategy named “Talent Balanced Teams and the 90 Minute Sprint”. This strategy is modeled after sound business management techniques and her experience as a manager of software engineering departments. Students thrive academically and socially as they learn, work, and design collaboratively and efficiently as if working in an engineering department. During the past 20 years, she has trained many teachers on this program at conferences, and school districts in both Texas and Mississippi. Lewis earned a BS Computer Science and MS Computer Engineering from North Carolina State University, completed the Program for Technology Managers at UNC, and earned her teacher certification at Brookhaven College in Dallas. She serves on the Mississippi Superintendent’s Teacher Advisory Council and served on the Mississippi Computer Science Education Strategic Planning Team. She has served as a College Board AP Reader for Computer Science and is a frequent speaker at educational conferences. In 2022, she presented "Visualizing DeMorgan's Laws with Logic Gates" at the National CSTA Conference in Chicago. In addition, she has served for 4 years as an AP Computer Science Training Facilitator for the Center for Cyber Education at Mississippi State University.

High-resolution version of the teacher profile photograph

The views expressed in awardee profiles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF or the PAEMST program.