Today is Teacher Appreciation Day. To mark the occasion, Several change the Equation staff members are honoring math and science teachers who changed their lives.

CTEq’s CEO Linda Rosen remembers Miss Schulman, her seventh grade math teacher at Sligo Junior High in Silver Spring, Maryland.  She can still feel her “sense of wonderment at learning the binary system and other number bases, which both challenged and illuminated everything I thought I knew about numbers.”

Claus von Zastrow, COO & director of research, recalls Mr. Bedor, his high school physics teacher at Seaholm High School in Birmingham Michigan. Mr. Bedor’s introduction to the theory of relativity made his students question everything they thought they understood about the world around them. “He was a quiet and gentlemanly presence in the classroom, but he made the earth shake with powerful ideas.”

Celia Alicata, Director of Programming, also points to a physics teacher, Mrs. Cloud, at the Gilbert School in Winsted, Connecticut. Mrs. Cloud used a trip to the amusement park to drive home lessons about kinetic energy, free fall, centripetal force and other important concepts. “Above all, Mrs. Cloud changed the way I interpreted the world by demonstrating the interconnectedness of science to everyday life.”

Rob Richardson, Director of Member Relations, remembers Mr. Daentle, his 10th grade math teacher at the Pomfret School in Pomfret, Connecticut. Mr. Daentle brought his students outside to measure distances using angles, and he used math to demonstrate how much stronger than humans animals could be. “Small as he was, he could rivet you with a glance that said he wouldn’t take ‘I don’t know’ for an answer.  He made you dig deep into what you did know to reach true understanding.”

CTEq thanks all the teachers who educate and inspire our future citizens and innovators.

Do you have any teachers you would like to honor?