Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/94843
RESOURCES aaPT: high sChool PhYsiCs TeaChers granTs American Association of Physics Teachers High School Physics Teachers Grants enables high school physics teachers to compete for small grants that will support innovative physics programs or activities that seek to increase stu- dent enrollment or to enhance student achieve- ment in physics. The deadline is December 1, 2012. Apply online at www.aapt.org/Programs/ grants/hsgrant.cfm. delTa eduCaTion/freY-neo/CPo sCienCe: awards for exCellenCe in inquirY-based sCienCe TeaChing The Delta Education/Frey-Neo/CPO Science Awards for Excellence in Inquiry-based Science Teaching will recognize and honor three full- time PreK-12 teachers of science who success- fully use inquiry-based science to enhance teaching and learning in their classroom. The deadline is November 30, 2012. Apply online at www.nsta.org/about/awards.aspx#delta. Student Opportunities naTional federaTion of indePendenT business: Young enTrePreneur awards The NFIB Young Entrepreneur Awards pro- gram raises awareness among the nation's youth of the critical role that private enterprise and en- trepreneurship play in the building of America. Winners will receive $10,000 in tuition assis- tance. High school seniors are eligible for this award. The deadline to apply is December 17, 2012. Apply online at www.nfib.com/yef/ yef-programs/young-entrepreneur-awards. Meet the Education Champions, cont. from page 22 tribution is empowerment. The community can learn how to come together and use their shared resources of skills, education, and expe- riences and redistribute them within their group to strengthen it. I made a commitment then that I would always live, work, and serve in a com- munity of need. I graduated from college a year later. I took a teaching position at Maryvale High School. In the beginning, I saw my employment at this urban school as an opportunity to continue my call. It was difficult at first; I wasn't quite sure how Micah 6:8, grammar, and Shakespeare would work together. I saw that my students weren't responding the way my college text- books told me they would. My students weren't achieving the way I thought was consequence to long hours, heavy grading, and careful les- son planning. People around me faulted the elementary schools, administration, parents, language barriers, poverty, politics, and lack of resources. The blame list seemed endless, but I couldn't reconcile myself to believe a Smart Board or newer textbooks would solve my classroom issues. Things were broken and that 36 Winter 2012/13 x AEA Advocate was evident, but my faith reminded me there was a God that came to fix the broken. God fixes the broken with love. I found I needed to implement a plan rooted in love. God had given all believers a model of how to love in Micah 6:8, and He had given Dr. Perkins a love strategy for implementing change in communi- ties, and He had given me a classroom. In my classroom, I had to figure out how to love my students into learning, so I used the same model outlined by Dr. Perkins. Each pe- riod of the day, students and I are "relocated" to Room 103 and become a family. We work hard to "reconcile" our differences and challenges early in the year, so that we can focus and solve the issues that get in the way of our learning. We take what we have learned together, and we "redistribute" it within the classroom show- ing our learning and solidifying it. We see the empowerment education brings. My students do all the work. I am so proud of them. They are more than the pride of the Westside; they are the real champions of change. 2