Annual awards honor math, science teachers at city high schools

A science teacher helping students study the East River, a mathematician teaching immigrants in the South Bronx and a teacher who raised test scores despite students being displaced by Hurricane Sandy were among seven city educators honored Wednesday.

The sixth-annual Sloan Awards recipients, who have been teaching math or science in city high schools for at least five years, were chosen by a panel of scientists, mathematicians and educators. The Fund for the City of New York and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation gave the winners an individual prize of $5,000 and $2,500 for their school’s math or science department.

Here are this year’s recipients, along with a highlight about each that we pulled from longer biographies compiled by the Sloan Awards:

Aristides Julmarx Galdones Uy

School: International Community High School (ICHS), Bronx
Subjects: Algebra, Pre-Calculus, Geometry
Why his school thinks he’s great: A skilled mathematician originally from the Philippines, Uy could have taught at a specialized school but he chose the South Bronx high school to have a greater impact on students who are all recent immigrants.

 

Jennifer Cordi, PhD

School: Bard High School Early College, Manhattan
Subjects: College-Level Biology, Evolutionary Biology, Living Environment, Chemistry, Botany
Why her school thinks she’s great: Cordi creates field projects for her students to teach them the scientific method. Her students are studying the East River ecosystem by collecting samples of plants and insects, analyzing DNA and making observations.

 

Kerri J. Naples

School: The Scholars’ Academy, Queens
Subject: Algebra II/Trigonometry
Why her school thinks she’s great: Naples’ students achieved some of the highest state exam scores in the school’s history despite many students losing their homes during Hurricane Sandy and the school having to relocate to East New York.

 

Lauren Brady

School: Park East High School, Manhattan
Subjects: Integrated Algebra, AIS Instruction for Integrated Algebra, College Statistics
Why her school thinks she’s great: Brady’s “approach to teaching helped transform the school” from being monitored for producing low state exam scores to seeing 98 percent of freshman pass the Algebra Regents exam last year.

 

Malcolm Hill

School: The Brooklyn Latin School
Subjects: IB Biology Higher Level, IB Biology Higher Level Lab
Why his school thinks he’s great: Hill designed the school’s biology curriculum to meet the requirements of the International Baccalaureate degree program. By the time students are seniors, they independently create and run their own experiments.

 

Megan Driscoll Berdugo

School: Brooklyn International High School
Subjects: Algebra, Geometry, College-Level Calculus
Why her school thinks she’s great: Berdugo creates personalized lesson plans for each of her students at the Brooklyn school that is made up of students who speak 35 different languages and have a wide range of educational backgrounds.

 

Theresa Dunlap Kutza

School: New Dorp High School, Staten Island
Subjects: Anatomy & Physiology, Neuroscience, Living Environment, Medical Issues
Why her school thinks she’s great: Kutza is well-known for her enthusiasm for science and innovative student projects, including overseeing oysters in Great Kills Harbor, observing thoracic surgery and studying the collapse of honey bee colonies in hives.