Student Recommendation Letter for Presidential Award for Excelle

I am cleaning my folders this morning and come across this letter. It was written by a 10th grader in May 2014 for recommending her 7th grade science teacher for Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

The teacher won the award, and the teacher invited the 10th grader to introduce her at the award bouquet.

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Dear Sir/Madam,

I'm thrilled to write this recommendation for Mrs. White as a nominee for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Mrs. White was my 7th grade science teacher and group mentor for my Science Competition group. I cannot recommend her highly enough for this award, since she is an enthusiastic, talented, and dedicated educator.

At the middle school, we enjoyed many engineering activities like using a set of materials to design an effective water filter, and building a protective case for a raw egg to be wrapped in before dropping it off of the two story building. Whenever a group would run into a problem with an activity, Mrs. White wouldn't bottle feed us the solution. Instead, she would encourage us to brainstorm and find the solution on our own, which is something I am thankful for. That independent feeling of finding an answer to your problem on your own is a gift that Mrs. White gave all of the members of the club. This also improved the learning of everyone in the club, since we had the opportunity to think on our own.

As the mentor for my science competition group, Mrs. White donated countless lunches for meetings to coach our team of four students. We were meeting at least once a week for several months, and every time we needed to meet Mrs. White would make time for us to sit down and work on our project. Our project ranked in the nation's top 10% of all entries and also received an honorable mention, thanks to Mrs. White giving her time and energy to coach us. I do not think that we would have done as well as we did without her help.

Mrs. White genuinely cares for what she does, and it is obvious that she teaches because she loves it and wants to share her experiences with science with us. Her lessons for us were always interesting and engaging, and the labs she planned were always hands-on and fun to do. I remember having a few minutes after finishing an activity for the day and the class would have a discussion about a current scientific findings, even if they weren't related to what we were studying at the moment, because she wanted to share with us the new happenings in the science world. Mrs. White was also the one teacher that everyone came with their science questions; she would always have the answer to even the most random question, from "Is cloning possible?" to "Why is the sky blue'?" On the off chance that she didn't know the answer right away, she would research and find the answer and then share it with us. It was clear to us that she loved science and learning, and that she wanted to share that love with us. Mrs. White is also very personable, and she connected with us students. She's definitely not one of those stuffy teachers who is distant from their students, but instead is a teacher who understands their class.

I cannot recommend Mrs. White enough for this award. Mrs. White was an encouraging mentor and coach, who expected our best thinking and who worked with us to get there. As shown above, she is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable teacher who understands how her students think, and works with that knowledge to teach the curriculum that shares her love of science with the class. Mrs. White is one of my favorite teachers, and absolutely deserves the recognition for helping shape my life and countless others.

Thank you for your consideration.

10^th grader

May 6, 2014.