HHS’ Scott finalist for national teaching award

Hopkinton High School engineering and robotics teacher Doug Scott was announced one of five finalists from Massachusetts for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).

According to the Massachusetts Department of Education, the PAEMST are the highest honors bestowed by the U.S. government specifically for K-12 math and science (including computer science) teaching. Congress established the awards in 1983, and the president may recognize up to 108 exemplary teachers every year.

Scott was nominated by Dr. Leigh Estabrooks and Tony Perry of the Lemelson-MIT program, and the recognition was unexpected.

“I was surprised,” Scott said. “Jim Cozzens of HCAM helped me film my class lesson which involved the Hopkinton Police Department, then I broke down the lesson and submitted a reflection in late April. I was not sure of the outcome until a friend sent me the notice of the finalists that had been posted online.”

Scott said the honor is one that comes only with a great deal of support.

“I am honored to be recognized amongst strong educators in Massachusetts and am glad to represent Hopkinton at the state level and hopefully will move through to the national level,” Scott said. “The example lesson that I submitted is a testament to the students in Hopkinton who show up every day ready to learn and staff, administration and community who are supportive of student learning.”

Bernardo earns regional honor

Hopkinton resident Haley Bernardo, who attends Norfolk County Agricultural High School in Walpole, recently earned an honorable mention in a New England high school science reporting competition sponsored by the Massachusetts Society for Medical Research (MSMR).

MSMR’s 28th annual student competition recognized students who investigated recent biomedical research breakthroughs and then created compelling and informative essays, posters or websites about them. A volunteer panel of 15 biomedical professionals from across the region judged the entries. Winners were honored and had their work displayed at the annual meeting of MSMR on June 21.

Bernardo’s poster was titled “Disturbance in Thyrotrope Function and Proliferation Cased by Low Thyroid Conditions in Zebrafish.”

New HPS website progresses

Hopkinton Public Schools launched the first phase of the district’s new website on July 8, updating the district-level pages. The second phase, which focuses on the school-specific pages, is slated to go live on Aug. 15.

Anyone who subscribed to HPS’ Google calendars will need to unsubscribe and resubscribe to the new calendars in order to receive the updated information.

Readers seeing any issues can email webmaster@hopkinton.k12.ma.us.