Mrs. Nath, one of our most environmentally-active teachers around campus, recently won the Global Innovation Award from Turnitin.com. Mrs. Nath is one of only two educators in the United States to receive this recognition this year!

To qualify as a Global Innovator, teachers must go above and beyond to maintain academic integrity in the classroom. Educators submit information about their professional background, teaching philosophy, and community involvement to a panel of judges. Then, the panels selects a teacher from each region of the globe to recognize as a Global Innovator. To learn more about her achievement, I interviewed Mrs. Nath:

Q1: How did you feel when you found out that you won the Global Innovator Award?

A1: I was extremely humbled and excited because this award is not just for me; it is a testament to the hard work of all of the research club students who have worked with me over the last two and a half years.

Q2: What is the significance of the award?

A2: The 2019 Global Innovation Awards recognize institutions and educators who help students everywhere do their best, original work. This year’s global and regional winners have worked tirelessly to champion authentic learning, enhance assessment practices, help students to achieve learning objectives, and support institutional strategy. 

Q3: Why were you selected as the winner for the award?

A3: During my semi-final one-to-one interview over Skype, I was asked about why I think I should get this award. I showed them all of the experiments going on in my classroom to critically think, innovate, and do creative research. The interviewers were amazed at how the 9th and 10th graders are thinking the way they are. I also told them that we, as mentors, need to give the students the opportunities and show them the paths of possibilities. The young minds of today will definitely come up with solutions that are beyond our thinking capacities.

Q4: You are very involved in ACP’s community with sponsoring clubs and teaching students to be more environmentally active. What encourages you to be this involved?

A4: While growing up in India, I never had the chance to do creative research when I was in high school. When I see the students at ACP-Erie, I see the potential and am motivated to help them think beyond their textbooks to solve real-world problems in an innovative way.

Q5: Is there any additional information I should mention in the article?

A5: I am the only high school teacher this year to have received this award for all the continents. All the other winners are university professors with many, many years of experience.

Q6: What’s a fun fact about yourself?

A6: I have a coral snake, two leopard geckos, mealworms, super worms, hissing cockroaches, roly-polies, and Tenebrio beetles in my classroom as class pets that we use for different experiments.

Congratulations to Mrs. Nath for winning the Global Innovator Award! Her continued commitment to innovation and improving the Chandler community sets a positive example for our students each day.

For more information about Mrs. Nath’s win, take a look at the Turnitin website: https://www.turnitin.com/community/global-innovation-awards/2019.