8
October
Features
Davies spends year working for Department of Energy
A lison F ieldhouse ___________
W alking through Capitol
Hill on a daily basis and
c h a ttin g w ith e d u ca to rs
from around the country
w as the reality for Jonathan
D avies, science teacher, last
school year. Davies lived in
the W ashington D.C. area to
w ork for the D epartm ent of
Energy through the Albert
Einstein Distinguished Edu
cator Fellow ship Program .
"I first heard about the
fello w sh ip in the Fall of
2008. It's a com petitive fel
low ship; over 400 educators
ap p lied ," Davies said.
A fter m aking it to the
finalist round, he w as flown
to D.C. for a w eekend to
participate in a w ine and
dine event along w ith four
rounds of interview s. Out
of the 400 applicants, only
24, including D avies, m ade
the cut. He w orked alongside
six other fellow s in the DOE.
O th ers w ork ed for N A SA ,
th e N a tio n a l O ce a n ic and
A tm ospheric A dm inistration
(NOAA) and the N ational Sci
ence Foundation (NSF).
"T h e interview ing process
is im portant because it's one
thing to look good on paper
and another if you happen to
be a com plete dud in person,"
Davies said. "Every single ap
plicant had to have am azing
credentials to m ake it to the
finalist round."
A lth ou g h the fellow ship
w as about bringing science
and m ath educators together,
it w as also about using their
experience as educators to fine-
tune and plan exhibits, dem
onstrations and other form s of
providing information, to cater
to the needs of students and
others. As educators, they have
Photo by Patrick Douglas
Jo n a th a n D a v ie s , s c ie n c e
teacher, grades papers during
his prep period. He spent last
school year in Washington D.C.
working for the D epartm ent
of Energy through the Albert
Einstein Distinguished Educator
Fellowship.
experience w orking w ith stu
dents and know w hat w orks
and w hat doesn't in keeping
people's attention.
"A lthough I am a teacher,
the fellow ship w asn 't about
m e being there to teach. In
stead, it w as about tw eaking
projects using m y experience
as a teacher to m ake the proj
ects better," Davies said.
W hile the educators helped
their respective departm ents
in creating the m eans for trans
ferring inform ation through
an e n g a g in g m a n n e r, th e
experience w as also for the
educators to realize all of the
resources that are available to
them in public and through
the governm ent.
" T h e fe llo w s h ip w as a
chance for us teachers to learn
about the resources available
to us at the federal level. We
saw how w e could bring these
resources back w ith us to
use in our classroom s and
our future lessons," Davies
said.
Prior to this fellow ship,
Davies had w orked in oth
ers, including the M.J. M ur
dock: Partners in Science at
Portland State U niversity
on a research fellow ship,
and through the Industry
In itia tiv e fo r S cie n ce &
M ath Educators. The AE-
D EFP however, was a once
in a lifetim e experience for
him , d ifferen t from past
research fellow ship experi
ences.
" A ll o f th e p e o p le I
w o rk e d a lo n g s id e w ith
w ere brilliant. I was inter
actin g w ith som e of the
brightest m inds in the coun
try. It was an experience that
I am grateful to have had ,"
Davies said.
New teachers bring varied experiences , innovative
E mily R eed __________________
College: University of
Portland '91
High school: Madison
Central, in Oldbridge, NJ
Teaching
history: "This
is my second
year teaching,
I was at
Wilsonville last
year."
Something
no one would
know: "I've
performed on
stage in New
York in two
productions,
Filler Theater
John Fitzgerald, English
Favorite high school class:
"Probably
an acting
class. I spent
a lot of
time acting
in my last
few years
of high
school."
Hobbies:
"I like to
read a lot,
and really
enjoy
outdoorsy
stuff—
hiking and
Photos by Rachael Woolley an(^ Members
° f the
canoeing— John Fitzgerald, English
Congregation."
and being
with my kids, my son Sean (15)
Biggest challenge: A class
is full of individuals. The
and daughter Dierdre (11)."
challenge is reaching every one
of them."
Biggest reward: "I meet a lot
of great people." Tiffany
Pfenning,
Spanish
Favorite
high school
Teaching history: "I have
taught at Wilsonville for five
years."
Something unexpected:
"I was a
cheerleader
at U of O for
four years."
Biggest
class: "I loved
challenge:
my dance
"The biggest
and Spanish
challenge
classes."
is time
Hobbies:
management."
"My main
Biggest
hobby is
reward:
dance."
"The biggest
College:
reward
University of
is seeing
Oregon '02
students after
Tiffany Pfenning, Spanish
High
they graduate
School: "I went
and seeing them
to West Linn my freshman
succeed."
year and then transferred to
M ike Francis, School
Wilsonville."
Resource Officer
Favorite high school class:
"I loved Ward Lewis' English
class."
Hobbies:
"I really like
photography,
fly fishing
and travel.”
College:
"I've been to
every college
in Oregon
except
University
of Oregon,
Oregon
State, and
Eastern
Oregon.
Mike Francis, Studei
Right now,
I'm working on a Social Science
degree at Portland State."
High school: West Linn High
Timeline, tips to help you avoid the college crune!
A lison F ieldhouse & J ennifer S itton
• Change e-mail to something not
embarrassing
• Take PS AT in October
• Become involved in extracurricular
• activities
• Take PS y
Scholars
• Sign up
• Take SAr
• Researcl
take any
• Take cha
0)
O'
0 -,
o
CD
: :
•
• Take PS AT in October
• Start looking at colleges in cities
you travel to
• Look for a summer internship
• Sign up for AP or honors classes for
next year
• Get to know your counselor
'I
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Natio
Education
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. Wins
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