Maureen Stover named 2021 National Teacher of the Year finalist

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Maureen Stover, a science educator from North Carolina, has been named one of four finalists for 2021 National Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Cumberland County Schools.

I enjoy sharing stories about exceptional educators who have garnered honors for their work in the classroom. One of these is Maureen Stover, a science educator from North Carolina, who has been named one of four finalists for 2021 National Teacher of the Year.

Currently, Maureen teaches biology, earth science, environmental science, and AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) at Cumberland International Early College High School in Cumberland County Schools located in Fayetteville, North Carolina. She has taught there for five years.

Maureen says she wants her students to be able to make informed decisions in a world where they’ll interact with science every day. “I want to ensure that my students are prepared to talk about science, to read about science, to understand science, and to make decisions based on science,” Maureen said. “It will be important for each of my students to develop the ability to apply their science knowledge to a variety of situations, from understanding a doctor’s diagnosis to determining the environmental impact of a purchase as simple as a one-time-use water bottle,” she continued.
The honored educator uses a variety of approaches to teach her students, including reading activities, videos, direct instruction, teacher presentations, podcasts, and hands-on learning. She evaluates students with non-traditional performance assessments that display students’ preferred learning styles. For one unit, she said, students worked in pairs to write a song or a poem to demonstrate their understanding of the material. One student played her ukulele; another played her flute. “Because students had an opportunity to show their knowledge by developing their own project,” Maureen explained, “they took ownership of the assignment and were excited to demonstrate their knowledge of the concept.”
Maureen once said that her dream was to join the US Air Force and become a pilot. Unfortunately, a vision condition prevented her from achieving that goal. Instead, she served as an intelligence officer. She spent a total of 20 years in the military.
When Maureen left the Air Force, she started teaching in Florida through the federal Troops to Teachers program. After a stint in California where she worked as an educational consultant for the National Science Teaching Association, Maureen and her husband moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina, where the former Air Force officer accepted a teaching position at Cumberland International Early College High School. She has taught there for five years.

In 1997, Maureen earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biology at the US Air Force Academy. She earned a Leadership Certificate with an emphasis in STEM from Teachers College at New York’s Columbia University in 2016. The same year, she completed the requirements for her Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in STEM at Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado. In 2020, she earned her Master’s degree in Teaching: Secondary Sciences Instruction from Western Governors University in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Congrats on your selection as a Teacher of the Year finalist, Maureen!