2005 Mentor Educator Awards

Mrs. Adair, though I rarely had her for class, gave me the inspiration and faith I needed in myself to pursue engineering. She was a very active participant in Robotics, an organization I joined my junior year of high school.  I never got to express my thanks to her, but it was her enthusiasm that showed me exactly what it meant to love what you do and put your heart into it.  Though I never thought I would end up in engineering, because I let myself stereotype the field, marking it as something only serious people look into studying.  However, Mrs. Adair, a teacher full of energy and surprise and in the sciences herself, showed me that I was wrong in stereotyping engineering.  Also, I  realized just how much she cared about her students when I observed her efforts to even stay in touch with those students who had graduated, including myself.  So, because I never got to say it before, "Thank you Mrs. Adair!" =)
-- Kristina Omark

Counselor, knows how to dress! Everyone loves her outfits and jewelry and shoes and hair. Very energetic and smart and open-minded.

A counselor who has so much faith in people, and helps them realize their potential ,in whatever it may be.
-- Neda Khaja

Biology teacher and basketball coach, very funny and smart and open minded. 

 A biology teacher as well as a great basketball coach who new how to make learning fun and filled with quality.
-- Neda Khaja

History teacher who knows how to teach so that students understand, is very open minded and intelligent. 

A brilliant history teacher who helped students not only realize the importance of history, but also motivated them into other fields, believing they are just as important. 
-- Neda Khaja

I had this teacher for 2 separate classes, architectural and mechanical drawing.  He taught both drafting and auto CAD techniques in high school.  Out of everything that I learned in High school, his class has been most beneficial to me thus far as a college student enrolled in engineering classes.  CAD is difficult to learn, but I am so glad that I learned a bit about it before taking the class here.  It really helped me from falling behind, and it kept me up to speed so that the new material would come easy to me as well. This teacher helped me realize that I can be an engineer or anything that I would like to be, and that the gender did not matter.  I was always the only girl in his class but it helped that he treated me as a person and not as the "girl" that was fooling herself that she actually could become an engineer.  I was discouraged by boys many times, but I am glad that I stuck with those classes because it helped me become a stronger person in the classes that I am enrolled in today. I learned a lot from him, and I feel that he above anyone of my teachers throughout high school convinced me to enter the engineering field. And so far it has been a great experience!
-- Sandra DiRupo

She was always pushing me to do better and to expect more of myself but was always there to back you up when you needed her. She is an amazingly sweet lady and is a role model for many students. 
-- Kristen Mowery

I'm nominating Ms. Barnhart because she is the most caring, dedicated counselor/mentor/friend I know. When I moved to Rochester, NY during the second semester of my sophomore year, she gave me a tour of the school and introduced me to other faculty, staff and students. Throughout the school year she was like an extra parent whenever I had problems including outside of school, she was there to help. She put me in the most advanced classes and gave me extra classes to challenge me and encouraged me to tutor others in my strongest, favorite subjects, Math and Science. Since I was an A student (which was rare for inner-city school students), she encouraged and helped me apply to a number of top technical schools and every scholarship including those I weren't quite eligible (I still got some of them). In addition, thanks to her help (nomination and recommendation), I was blessed with a number of one-time, small scholarships and the Bill Gates Millennium Scholarship which pays for my whole college education up to my Doctorates degree. If I didn't get this scholarship, I wouldn't be at Penn State right now. Ms. Barnhart goes out of her way to make sure that her students are challenged, recognizes their strong points, helps them achieve their goals and cares about them.

Mrs. Gilbert is a teacher like no other.  She has always made an outstanding effort to ensure that her students succeed in math.  She took on a class that had a weak foundation in Calculus 1, taught both Calc. 1 & 2 all in one semester and encouraged her students to work hard.  I contribute my success on the AP exam to Mrs. Gilbert, who spent many hours after school with her students working hard to prepare.  Without having succeeded in this class, I would not have even considered engineering as a major. 
-- Katelyn M. Ritter

Mrs. Willis taught my AP Physics class my senior year, and after the exam she brought in guest professionals to talk to the class.  Four of the guests were engineers and one was a female.  This was a good opportunity to expose us to some of the careers where we could apply physics and math we had learned that year.  Also, as a teacher, Mrs. Willis was very encouraging to both the men & women in the class to learn and excel.
-- Kara Johnston

Ms Sinclair is an excellent teacher who challenges one to think.  She is very good at teaching calculus and helped me learn a great deal before I came to college.  She was very helpful to me and is a great person.

Ms. Sinclair was an excellent calculus teacher. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have had such an excellent math background before college.  She is a very patient woman and is very encouraging.  I want to thank her for being such an awesome teacher.
-- Lauren Spirnak

Mr. Musolino was a large part in my selection of Engineering. He was the type of teacher that every student deserves to have. He excited all the students with hands on projects and pushed us all to do our best. He never put one student below another. Mr. Musolino always drew out the best in all of his students. Most seniors in high school would skip their physics class, especially at the end of the year, but not for this teacher. He opened the door of opportunity to many of us sending his students to different conferences and events. I myself was inspired to go to the Penn State New Kensington's FIRSTE program (Females Interested in Researching for science technology and engineering) and the Westinghouse Science Honors Institute. He allowed me to find my greatest attributes as a student and scientist and helped me go further. He was my mentor throughout high school and I still ask him for advice. It is a shame that he retired and no more students will experience his teachings. He is an outstanding teacher, mentor, and human being! Thanks to him I knew that even as a woman I could be an engineer, the best engineer that I could be.
-- Jennifer L. Claassen

She was a great calculus teacher and I never would have did so well in calculus and the other math courses at Penn State without having her in high school.  She really helped get my college career off to a good start by being a great teacher in high school.
-- Janine Ketter

Mr. Clara has encouraged and guided me towards my goals for the future.  He pushed me when I was lazy and patted me on the back when I succeeded.  Without Mr. Clara's persistence, I don't think I would be where I am at today.
-- Lisa Gorecki

Mr. Wilhour was a teacher that most students considered a stickler. He was very serious about his students doing their work, and making the grade. He teaches AP courses in Calculus and Statistics, along with accelerated trig and such. If a student made a habit of not doing homework they were put on homework probations, where the student must present the completed assignment before first period every day… this ensured they were doing their work themselves. He also made students do a read study note assignment before each lesson, so students have knowledge of what is being taught. All in all his class was a lot of work, and no lenience. This made college that much easier. I already had the work ethic built into me.

However, once I realized this I began to appreciate Mr. Wilhour. We even established a wonderful student teacher relationship. I admired him a great deal. We would joke around and class became more of a treat than a hassle. I just knew to do my work and be there. However towards the end of my senior year I developed a horrible cease of senioritis and started missing excessive classes. Mr. Wilhour knew this was unlike me and after so much he phoned my mother. I did not feel ill toward Mr. Wilhour, but a respect. Had it not been for him I would have missed a many more classes and made some terrible mistakes. He placed me back on track.

He also inspired me to become an engineer. He was always sharing interesting things and one day there was a fact about engineers. It sparked my interest, and I knew what we were doing in that class was a lot like engineering. HE made me love math, which I knew I needed to do, and I owe him a great deal of any success and accomplishments that I generate.

We love Mr. DUBYA!!
-- Sabrina Burrous