When starting a teaching career, most teachers have a goal to share their knowledge with as many students as they can. What they do not expect is to receive anything in return. Science teacher Marilyn Kemp felt this way at the beginning of her teaching career, but was proven wrong when she received the PolyEd Award. This consists of an all expenses paid trip to an National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) conference as well as an $1,000 award.

    The PolyEd Award is sponsored by the American Chemical Society and its goal is to award high school and middle school teachers for promoting polymer education. The process of getting this award included sending in letters of recommendation, a CV (which is similar to a resume), and lesson plans that involved polymer education.

     Kemp did apply last year for this award, but didn’t receive the recognition until this year when she updated her application.

     “When I got Teacher of the Year, they asked me to write my educational philosophy, so I wrote [it] in terms of material science,” she said. “I submitted that.”

     Incorporating polymer education in her classroom is something Kemp has become very passionate about and hopes to continue to incorporate alongside science teacher Kathryn de Venecia.

     “[She’s] been working with me this year, which has been great,” Kemp said. “What I’d like to do is get all the folders of activities that we’d like to implement.”

     Moving forward, Kemp is planning on continuing to advance polymer education at Eaglecrest and will be receiving her prize for the PolyEd Award in the near future.