So, after reading Devon’s phlog I figured out the
assignment, so here it goes:
New Waves for Cuba High School
Cuba Independent School District is
in the news again, however, this time they are in a positive light! Their very own Brecque McEldowney has been
selected to receive 2017’s Teacher of Year Award. McEldowney has been teaching biology and chemistry at Cuba High
School since 2011. “It was my first
‘formal’ teaching job. I absolutely
fell in love with the students in my district.
I think the school has been given a bad rap what with all the negative
news attention we have been given, but I assure you we are doing some great
things at this school.” McEldowney has
taken students every year to a summer program at MIT and has successfully aided
students, from this once science and math poor school, to getting their scores
up enough to get into world renowned science research schools/programs.
A favorite program that she has
gotten her kids involved in started as a summer job she took for her summer
vacation. The extremely
knowledge-driven teacher from Cuba successfully landed a position at Mossel
Bay’s Oceans Research facility, which specializes in the study of mega-fauna
found on the coast of South Africa, including the feared Great White
Shark. “Brecque excelled in her
position here. She was so excited about
what she was doing every day. Her
enthusiasm for her studies and her desire to somehow take her knowledge to her
students was just heart warming,” says Ocean’s Research Director Enrico
Gennari. After she completed her study,
McEldowney received a grant to take 5 students interested in studying ocean
life and a parent chaperone to Mossel Bay for a life-changing experience. Ana Curie and Nick Einstein were part of her
first group of student to go to Mossel Bay in 2014. “We had never seen anything like it! We were able to see up close what these animals did. And the size of them was mind boggling!” Nic
and Ana said recalling their trip.
Closer to home, McEldowney has been able to work with Los Alamos
National Labs to get her students into a summer internship program in which
they learn about how LANL runs, what they study, and why their studies are
important to the area.
McEldowney is from a family of
teachers and hence grew up with a great appreciation for education, though she
tells us she practically hated formal schooling until she got into education. “I would say that I did not exactly enjoy
school. I just wasn’t a morning person
so attending morning classes was difficult for me … especially if I wasn’t
likely to get an afternoon nap,” McEldowney laughed as her student aide giggled
in the background. “My parents played a
huge part in my education. I actually
wanted to quit college and join the army or Peace Corp, which was totally out
of the question for them. It did take a
while for me to figure out that I couldn’t run from science. When I settled with getting a biology
degree, I found a whole new passion for what I was doing. I had always known I wanted to be a teacher;
I just wanted the experience to back up what I was teaching my students.”
Miss Mac has been part of the team
to implement a vocational type program here at CHS. “Our team has worked incredibly hard writing grants, finding
resources, and finding teachers who would come in to help with such a
large-scale task. We are proud to offer
our students the opportunity to have a vocational certificate by the time they
get out of high school. We offer
vocational classes as electives so we still fit school standards with English,
Math, Science, and Social Studies, but they get the same hours in as they would
in a continuing education vocational college” says McEldowney. CHS now offers CDL, beautician, welding, EMT
basic, vet tech, and dental hygienist programs.
With her unconventional methods and
out of the box thinking about education, which she accredits to CNM’s
Alternative Teacher Licensure program, she swam her way to the top while
challenging and encouraging the students she has worked with. “They are all important to me. If they need me, I’m there. If there is some way I can help them connect
their interests and their work, I will do everything in my power to get them
what they need.”
Anyone who teaches in a place like Cuba, NM should really get special consideration for these awards. The challenges that you've described to me, such as cultural resistance to Westernized education among the Native population, can either make or break a teacher. Just the fact that you're willing to drive to Cuba from Abq. every day is amazing.
ReplyDeleteI guess you plan to still be there in five years? Do you think it's more rewarding to teach so-called at-risk students than it is to teach privileged and over-achieving students?
At Valley High I had a science teacher who changed the lives of his students in many positive ways. He was the first teacher at that school to offer classes like Environmental Science and Marine Biology. In the latter class we took a marvelous trip to San Diego to visit the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Sea World. He was a teacher who I will always remember and appreciate.
Congratulations! I love to see rural schools in the spotlight and you're going to be that teacher that draws that light. I'm thinking that "unconventional methods and out of the box thinking" are going to be the way we all need to focus because the old standard is not working for so many teachers and students. You have some really neat big dreams for your students and I hope that they can be realized. I agree with Devon that in a location like Cuba teachers should get more consideration and attention and even funding because it sounds like the challenges are many. If you do stay where you are, I think you'll be one of the teachers that students will remember fondly when they look back at the old grind of formal education. I admire your tenacity. You're working hard and then commuting to school too....keep it up girl. You've got the attitude that will motivate a lot of students.
ReplyDeleteBrecque, congratulations on your awesome award! You truly deserve it. And it's great that you helped put a vo-tech program back in place. Not EVERY high school student is (or even wants to be) preparing for college, and Vo-tech can play an important role in preparing students for the workforce, getting them ready to start their lives. Back in the 70s, when almost every high school had some type of Vo-tech/Auto Shop programs, my husband was a sheet metal apprentice. Ten years later, when he was a shop foreman and contractor, he decided he was financially and emotionally ready for college. So, after years of working while going to night school, he became a CPA (his second career). And he still uses his trades skills, too (e.g., he built our house!). We wouldn't have had the wonderful life we've had if he'd not first gone the Vo-tech route. It would have been very hard for him to make a decent first career any other way. Bravo and thanks for your insight, 2017 National Teacher of the Year, Brecque McEldowney!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on receiving this great award! like someone mentioned earlier, the education a student can receive in a rural school can be wonderful when given great creative teachers. It is particularly wonderful that you are experimenting with new curriculum development in your teaching. You are basically bringing science to life and that way enlivening the area of science which can get to be a little overwhelming for some students. I remembered reading your blog that when I was in elementary school I had the opportunity to attend two rural schools while living with my mom in an indigenous community near Copper Canyon in Chihuahua, Mexico. One was a public school and the other was a private school, both in different communities. It was a very intense experience for me since I had only lived in the city. I saw how teachers worked in such diligent ways to make the best out of the resources they had. I also remember that being in a natural setting was in itself a great creative fuel.
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