Mindi Wimett

Bethel, VT | K-6, Mathematics, 2022

What motivates you to contribute to excellence in STEM teaching?

STEM is still a largely male-dominated field so I aim to increase confidence in girls to pursue STEM careers.

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

Any time a student is willing to share a mistake they made with their peers to help other students understand or feel confident always feels like a transformative moment.

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

I hope having won this award can bring attention to the efforts we are making in public education. Our education system is not failing. We can do better but we need to trust our educators and then our students will thrive.

Biography

Mindi Wimett has been an educator for 20+ years and has spent most of her career teaching sixth, seventh, and eighth grade mathematics and interdisciplinary studies at White River Valley Middle School. Prior to a district merger, she taught sixth, seventh, and eighth grade mathematics and kindergarten through eighth grade mathematics lab at South Royalton School for eight years. She taught fifth and sixth grade mathematics, literacy, and science at South Royalton School for her first seven years as a teacher. Mindi works to incorporate relevant and authentic learning opportunities into her curriculum. Students work with menus, grocery fliers, travel sites, and credit unions to learn how to use percentages, discounts, taxes, tips, and interest. Students design and build scribble bots to produce and analyze data, using materials from a collaboration with the Montshire Museum of Science. She created an interactive research and problem-solving project to highlight and celebrate mathematicians from various backgrounds. Mindi has served on a variety of committees in her supervisory union. She has participated in multiple professional learning communities (PLC), such as the supervisory union’s anti-racist PLC and book study for Fostering Resilient Learners. Mindi has attended the Middle Grades Institute for several years and presented at the Middle Grades Collaborative annual conference three times. She has also served as a mentor to new teachers. Mindi earned a B.S. in elementary education and an M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction through the Vermont Mathematics Initiative at the University of Vermont. She is a certified elementary school educator and a middle grades mathematics educator.

High-resolution version of the teacher profile photograph

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