2010 Charlotte M. Boener Award Recipient - Chery Henry

Cheryl Cornett Henry was a stay at home mom for 10 years, until she made a “mid-life” change to pursue the art of teaching.   She is a graduate of Purdue University and landed her dream job with Portage Township Schools in the fall of 2007 at Willowcreek Middle School.   After teaching 2 years of 7th grade science, Cheryl presently teaches 6th grade Math/Science.  Her enthusiasm for science and a general love of learning are reflected by all that she does for her students.  Cheryl continually strives to incorporate relative, real-world science into the class and incorporates the use of differentiated curriculum and hands-on inquiry based science.  Her passion for science was evident as a child, when she would often question and proceed to experiment to find out “the truth”.  One instance was when her parents told her about electricity and warned her to not put anything into the outlet.  Of course for Cheryl, she had to find out herself and proceeded to put a bobby pin in the socket.  
A hands-on learner herself, Cheryl continues to research the latest techniques in order to meet the various levels of learners in her class. Cheryl loves to keep various science toys scattered throughout the class to tweak her students’ curiosity and help them to catch “the enthusiasm wave” for science. 

2008 Charlotte M. Boener Award Recipient - Ben Barkey

8th Grade Science Teacher at Edgewood Middle School, Warsaw, IN

I began my teaching career in 2002 at Edgewood middle school in Warsaw, Indiana.  I have been fortunate to have spent my entire life in Warsaw, except when I was away at Manchester College (22 miles down the road).  I really love this area.  At Manchester College, I earned a degree in Biology with an endorsement to teach science and math.  I was then offered a position in my home town.  Since 2002, I have also been the varsity men’s golf coach at Warsaw.  During the 2006-07 school year, I left education to work at my family business; however, I soon realized that I belonged in the classroom.  As an educator, I try to incorporate hands on learning with relevant content that students come in contact with everyday.  A unique project that my students have worked on includes a conservation fish breeding project, capped off with a trip to the Shedd Aquarium.  My class has also participated in the First Lego League, in which students build and program Lego robots.   New, for this year, is our class blog, hosted by www.classblogmeister.com. This forum allows kids to continue their love of science outside of the classroom as well as spark new thoughts that build on what we have learned in class.  I have been amazed and pleased with the level of thought put into blogs posted on our site. 

What I love most about teaching are the kids.  There is nothing better in this word than to teach 8th graders about science!

2006 Charlotte M. Boener Award Recipient - Bradley S. DeHoff

7th and 8th Grade Science Teacher Plainfield Community Middle School

My first teaching experience was as a substitute at Jay County High School while I was home from IU during the month of May in 1982. In 1985, while working on my M.S. degree in biochemistry at the University of Illinois, I taught a lecture section of a freshman chemistry/biology class and received an Outstanding Teaching Award. I gained “real-world” experience as a research scientist when I worked for over 11 years at Eli Lilly and Company. Even though I had a very successful career at Lilly by helping to locate the breast cancer gene, BRCA1, to sequence the entire genome of Streptococcus pneumoniae, and to obtain two U. S. patents, it was a deep and long-standing desire to teach that led me to leave and pursue this rewarding career. After receiving my certification from IUPUI, I joined Plainfield Community Middle School in the Fall of 2002 as a 7th and 8th grade science teacher. Since then, I have become the sponsor for the Student Council, a Technology Lead Teacher and an Interdisciplinary Team Leader. I have helped encourage students to enter science fairs, led the Science Academic Super Bowl team to a state championship in 2004, and received the Optimists’ Excellence in Education Teacher of the Year award for our middle school in 2005. I help my students discover science in their everyday lives by using real-life examples, technologies, activities, demonstrations, and group exercises that engage them and build teamwork skills. Being a father of a son with multiple disabilities, I have a special place in my heart for my students with special needs. Recently, I received the best reward of all, a thank you note from a former student with special needs. It said, “Thank you for being such a good teacher. Even though I didn’t get the best grades in your class, you still helped me understand. You are one of the most caring teachers I have had in Middle School. I wish I could have you again because I always had so much fun in your class! Thank You!” “One of the greatest rewards of teaching is receiving visits and thank you cards from former students and hearing current students say, ‘I get it now!’ I love seeing the light bulbs turn on."

2003 Charlotte M. Boener Award Recipient - Cherish Long Easton

Cherish Long Easton, a third year teacher of eighth grade science at Custer Baker Middle School has been selected as the recipient of the Charlotte M. Boener Award for Innovative Middle School Science Teaching. Cherish's excitement for teaching and her tireless energy have been recognized both by her colleagues and parents.

Cherish brings excitement, rigor, creativity, interdisciplinary learning and real world science to her classroom. She has demonstrated a caring attitude for all her students regardless of their abilities. The cornerstone of instruction in Mrs. Easton's science classroom is inquiry learning as a means to "unlock" each student's love for learning. Students feel empowered to learn in her classroom. Her goal is for every student to succeed. Her teaching style is varied and effective. It is the norm for Cherish to individualize and differentiate instruction to meet the varied abilities of her students. Students in her classroom "learn science by doing science". They are constantly engaged in hands-on activities and cooperative learning groups. In addition, Cherish is adept at using technology as a means of exposing her students to current issues in science.

HASTI is proud to recognize Cherish as a wonderful example of innovative science that is being taught in middle schools across Indiana. Cherish has developed challenging inquiry lessons and created authentic assessment to evaluate student learning and instruction. Cherish Long Easton's dedication to exemplary science instructions has created an exciting classroom experience for her eighth grade students at Custer Baker Middle School.