Teacher Spotlight: Mississippi Teacher Personifies America’s Powerful Potential in STEM Education

Meisha (Mya) Holmes is the kind of teacher who still provides a sense of connection and encouragement for her first class of students who studied with her fourteen years ago.

She began her career by earning her degree in chemical engineering and set out to do research in industry.  Along the way, Mya was encouraged by her son’s principal to bring her passion for the dynamic and practical nature of science and math to life in the classroom.  Over the years she has provided hundreds of children with STEM skills they may never have accessed without her.

Today, on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, Mya leverages CTL’s free, editable Progressive Mathematics Initiative® (PMI®) course materials to engage and empower her students.  Not surprisingly, she delivers strong student outcomes with her teaching and coursework.

At CTL, we are profoundly inspired by Mya, and the thousands of teachers in far reaches of the country who use our materials as a foundation to increase the impact of America’s STEM education every day; one engaged classroom and one hopeful student at a time.

We are also excited that our partnership with Colorado State University Global Campus now brings online graduate courses of study in physics and chemistry education to teachers throughout the country to help teachers of every academic background earn their endorsements in these important, understaffed fields.

We are naming Mya the quarterly recipient of the first $5,000 New Jersey Center for Teaching Learning Nationwide Scholarship for Achievement in Teaching to help her earn her endorsement in physics, to add to her endorsement in mathematics.

Details on how teachers can apply for the next quarterly scholarship will be featured in our next newsletter and at njctl.org in the coming month.

See Mya's video here.