Utah State University graduate gets award for excellence in math and science
Utah State University graduate Diana Suddreth received the 2000 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science (PAESMT) March 6. She was one of 203 teachers to get this award from the National Science Foundation.
“I am very honored to receive this award,” Suddreth said. “It’s the highest honor a math teacher can receive besides the thanks we get from our students. It is very rewarding to know that people in government appreciate the work we do with students.
“Winning the award also is a responsibility – a responsibility to share ideas with colleagues and to mentor new teachers so that someday they can also be recognized and so that students can achieve great things.”
With the award, Suddreth will get a $7,500 educational grant from her school. She also received a certificate signed by George W. Bush and a week-long trip to the capital, where she met government officials and had her picture taken with the president.
Suddreth said she would like to buy a laptop computer and a projection device.
“There are many programs that work great for demonstration in math, particularly in geometry, but it doesn’t work very well to have 30 students huddle around a computer,” she said.
She said she would also plan to buy “all the little things I usually have to scrounge up to do experiments,” like mirrors, springs and stop watches.
“Those all help with data collection, which I like to do as a part of graphing,” Suddreth said.
Suddreth got her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at USU in 1980 and 1988.
“I loved [USU] while I was there,” Suddreth said.
She said her favorite memories include eating ice cream on the Quad, meeting friends for study sessions in the Hub, history lectures brought to life in Old Main and getting to know her future husband by going fishing at 3rd dam.
“Two of my children were born in Logan while my husband was finishing school, and I was teaching at Logan High. That’s pretty special,” Suddreth said.
She has taught math for 20 years in middle and high schools in Logan, California and Nevada.
The PAESMT began in 1983, and this year 216 teachers were recommended by a national panel of scientists, mathematicians and educators.
The award is based on the work they’ve done over the year, said Darrick Nicholas, with the National Science Foundation.
Suddreth currently teaches at Dixie Middle School in St. George, where she has worked for the past nine years. She teaches geometry and algebra for grades 7 through 9.
According to Nicholas, Suddreth provides her students with a variety of learning experiences to meet the needs of all learners at all levels and from all backgrounds.
“All students, not just the gifted or the remedial, engage in hands-on and computer activities and advanced subject matter, such as working with graphing calculators and Geometer’s Sketchpad software and exploring non-Euclidean geometry,” Nicholas said.
He said she also encourages her students to organize their work using symbolic language and writing in prose paragraphs. She seeks to engage students and sustain their interest through hands-on activities and “fun” exercises, such as using broccoli to demonstrate fractals, Nicholas said.
“I love teaching and I love my students, so I plan to continue teaching,” Suddreth said. “I’ve been working more with teachers lately and I enjoy doing that a lot, so I’ll definitely keep doing that as well.”
She was a state finalist for the same award in 1995; was awarded the George Shell Award in 1994, which is given for excellence in teaching by the Utah Council of Teachers of Mathematics; and was awarded the Superintendent’s Award from Washington Co. School District.