State Innovation Award Recognizing 2 Warminster Teachers

WARMINSTER, PA —Two William Tennent High School teachers are being honored as the co-recipients of the 2022 Pennsylvania Innovative School Teacher Award.

They are the "only recipients" in the state getting the award, Centennial School officials said at the school board's meeting Thursday night. The award was briefly mentioned when the board approved the trip for the two teachers to the ceremony.

"I guess we let the cat out of the bag," Schools Superintendent Dana Bedden said.

The award was announced by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) for high school teachers Ignacio Jayo and Steve Beal.

Jayo and Beal will be recognized at the upcoming Excellence in Public Education Leadership Dinner at the 2022 PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference on Sunday, Oct. 30, at Kalahari Resorts & Conventions.

Jayo and Beal were nominated for this prestigious award due to their creation of ExcitED.

The program provides students and teachers in Bucks County the opportunity to participate in authentic professional experiences within user design, entrepreneurship, and biotechnology disciplines.

ExcitED includes partnerships with the Bucks County Department of Workforce & Economic Development, the Wistar Institute, and the Pennsylvania Society for Biomedical Research (PSBR).

This endeavor offers high school students a pathway to real-world work experiences via mentorship, internships, workplace visits, job shadowing, and employment opportunities.

Bedden said the ExcitED partnership has been an outstanding experience for our students and teachers as it has created growth for both. The Student Design Lab truly prepares our students to learn how to collaborate, do research, and develop problem-solving skills. The design lab:

• Begins With Challenges
• Work with Industry Professionals
• Through Extensive Research, students are asked to pitch practical solutions

In a statement to Patch Wednesday afternoon, Bedden said:

"I applaud our two teachers for also being self-reflective and wanting to change how they teach our students. They have really stepped back and embraced student discovery while being a guide and support to the students. Using some educational slang terminology, they want to be the guide on the side, not the sage on the stage. Nurturing our students to find practical solutions to problems by going through a process of failing and learning from that failure on their way to finding an answer."

Through the generous support of Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor and Industry, this partnership has been awarded a two-year, $250,000, Schools-to-Work grant to develop a pre-apprenticeship program focused on creating workforce development partnerships between school districts, higher education institutions, and local businesses to increase learning and training opportunities for Bucks County youth.

"The Centennial School District is thrilled with the results of ExcitED’s first year and looks forward to improving and enhancing the program’s opportunities and experiences for our students," a press release stated.

ExcitED officially launched this summer yielding:

• Thirty paid student internship opportunities at six different host sites.
• Student interns earned a collective total of $38,650.

The ExcitED partner sites included:

• The Uncommon Individual Foundation - Caruso Challenge: Students took part in an entrepreneurial boot camp during which they identified a problem, tested their assumptions, and presented solutions. Interns received three college credits for successful completion of the challenge.

• Lampire Biological: Students took part in either a two- or six-week experience during which they worked alongside professionals in various departments at Lampire. They learned a wide variety of Biotechnology techniques and had the opportunity to experience many aspects of the company.

• CRISPR Classroom: Students interned as science communicators and worked directly with CRISPR Classroom CEO Kris Tatiossian. In addition to their direct responsibilities, students learned several entrepreneurial skills working in this fast-growing startup.

• ProofPilot: Students worked alongside Chief of Strategy Joe Kim in this software startup as part of a marketing and entrepreneurial internship. Students helped the marketing team at ProofPilot develop a playbook for reaching out to a younger audience.

• Doylestown Biotech Center’s Hep B Program: Student interns worked in various laboratories under the direct supervision of scientists at the center. Their experience culminated in a final presentation highlighting the research techniques they learned.