A fifth grade teacher at Nick Poulakidas Elementary School will represent Nevada as the winner of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Science Teaching (PAEMST) for 2020. Amie Braik has been an educator for 17 years, the last seven in the Washoe County School District (WCSD).
“I am so honored to receive this award, and it is an incredible feeling to be recognized on a national level for teaching a subject I love.” said Braik, who began her teaching career in WCSD at Grace Warner Elementary School. “I am humbled and will use this experience to become an advocate for STEAM education at the elementary level.”
“What a great honor for Amie, and I’m so excited that her work is being recognized with this award,” said WCSD Superintendent Dr. Kristen McNeill. “I appreciate her willingness to help support her peers by participating in extra activities involving curriculum and training. She is a wonderful asset to our District, and I congratulate her on this award.”
Braik began her teaching career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the South Pacific, and later taught sixth- and seventh grade at Whiteriver Elementary School om the White Mountain Apache reservation in Arizona before coming to Reno.
In her classroom at Poulakidas Elementary School, she incorporates STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) projects into her lessons. Her students have built and coded robots, engineered animal shelters, and created space capsules, wind-sail cars, as well as using 3-D printers. She is a member of her district’s science cadre and has led school- and multi-statewide professional development on Next Generation Science Standards and science- and engineering phenomena. Braik also participated in the District’s science curriculum adoption committee and is assisting with Districtwide teaching training on that curriculum.
Amie Braik earned her Bachelor of Science degree in anthropology at the University of Oregon and a Master of Science degree in elementary education from Northern Arizona University.
“The inquiry-based learning that happens in science ignites children’s curiosity and helps them become critical thinkers,” said Braik. “Science is a subject that all students find interest in, and they never cease to amaze me with their problem solving and deeper thinking during science lessons.”
Established in 1983, PAEMST is the highest award kindergarten through 12th grade math and science teachers can receive from the U.S. government. Each year, the award criteria alternates years between kindergarten through 6th grade and 7th- through 12th grade teachers. Award recipients represent schools and organizations from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Department of Defense Education Activity schools, and the U.S. territories including American Samoa, Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Each national winner will receive a $10,000 award and a certificate signed by President Biden, who named 117 teachers and mentors as 2020 recipients of the Presidential Awards for Excellence earlier this year. Recipients of awards for 2021 and 2022 will be announced soon. Sky Ranch Middle School math teacher Harvest Tossava is a 2021 State Finalist for the award.
