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RMS Teacher of the Year
About the Award
AAPG's annual award of $5,000 to be given to a K-12 teacher. The National award includes $2,500 to the teacher's school for the winning teacher's use and $2,500 for the teacher's personal use. In addition, the winner will receive an expense-paid trip to the Annual Meeting.
The award determined in 2007 will be given at the 2008 Annual Meeting and again will be sponsored by the AAPG Foundation.
Each Society that chooses to participate selects a local winner. The section winners are submitted to the national office in Tulsa for selection of the national awardee. A prize and recognition is also given at the local level.
At the National level, a level playing field for judging is required and all entries follow a specific format, using the guidelines described in the Entrant Information Cover Page and the Entry Guidelines in the AAPG Application Information page. For your convenience all of these guidelines can be found at foundation.aapg.org/toty/eforms.cfm.
2008 Teacher of the Year: Mary Fitts
My name is Mary Fitts and I teach in the Douglas County School District at Sierra Middle School in Parker, Colorado. Since majoring in geology at Rice University and working as a geologist, I have been passionate about teaching Earth Science to my eighth grade students. Kids are naturally curious about their world, and love to learn about "their Earth" in a variety of ways. Being a science teacher is a huge advantage; I can provide a wide variety of lab-based activities to promote learning and inquiry. Whether my students are trying to identify a mineral, determine how a convection current works, or proposing their own hypotheses about dinosaur behavior, they are learning from the inquiry process itself. As a result, I hope that when my students go on to high school, they leave my class with a solid appreciation of "their Earth" and its resources, its dynamic nature, and the desire to safeguard it for the next generation.
I truly appreciate the wonderful opportunity to represent Earth Science teachers in the Rocky Mountain Section of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, and it is with great honor that I accept the 2008 Teacher of the Year Award. I sincerely commend professional organizations like the AAPG that support educators in their efforts to teach about the value and preservation of our natural resources.
Mary B. Fitts
Sierra Middle School
Parker, Colorado
Previous Winners
| Year | Name | School | Location | Affiliated
Society |
| 2008 | Mary Fitts* | Sierra Middle School | Parker, CO | RMAG |
| 2007 | Candace Penrod | Hillside Middle School | Salt Lake City, UT | UGA |
| 2006 | Jim Schultz* | Helena High School | Helena, MT | MGS |
| 2005 | Cheryl Mosier | Columbine High School | Littleton, CO | RMAG |
| 2004 | William Christiansen | East High School | Salt Lake City, UT | UGA |
* Also went on to be awarded the National AAPG TOTY
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