Spain Park’s Hamilton wins presidential award for science teaching

For the second year in a row, a Spain Park High School science teacher has been selected as a national winner for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

Pamela Hamilton, who is in her 24th year of teaching high school, was one of two teachers from Alabama selected for the national award this year. The other was Jessye Gaines, a math teacher at Bob Jones High School in Madison.

The Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching are the highest honors given by the U.S. government specifically for K-12 science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and/or computer science teaching. Congress established the awards in 1983, and the National Science Foundation administers them on behalf of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The recipients come from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Department of Defense Education Activity schools and the U.S. territories. This year, 107 teachers were recognized.

The award honors teachers who have both deep content knowledge of the subjects they teach and the ability to motivate and enable students to be successful in those areas. Since the program’s inception, more than 5,000 teachers have been recognized for their contributions in the classroom and to their profession.

Hamilton, who was known as Pamela Harman prior to getting married in February, began her teaching career at Hoover High School in 1997 and has taught at Spain Park since 2002. She teaches earth and space science to students in 11th and 12th grades.

She was named the 2007-08 Alabama Teacher of the Year and was inducted into the Jacksonville State Teacher Hall of Fame in 2015.

Hamilton served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1987-91 and put herself through school. She earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a master’s degree in geosciences from Mississippi State University and a doctorate in teacher leadership from Walden University.

She is also certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and has served on the Alabama National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Network and on the Governor’s Commission on Quality Teaching.

Hamilton specializes in meeting the needs of diverse learners. She has led professional development at the Hoover, state and national levels on topics including differentiated instruction, formative assessment and argument-driven inquiry.

The Hoover Board of Education recently recognized Hamilton for her accomplishment. She said she was very honored to receive the national award and is proud to work in a school system that gives students the best education possible, no matter their personal background.

“It doesn’t matter whether students come from families with low incomes,” she said. “Every student has an opportunity to learn and become the best they can be.”

Last year, two teachers from Hoover City Schools were selected as national winners of the presidential award: Spain Park High School science teacher Kristin Bundren and Berry Middle School science teacher Kevin Pughsley.

Hoover City Schools spokesman Jason Gaston said the Hoover school system has had 19 teachers win the presidential award over the years. We are very blessed to have teachers of this caliber in our district.”