Silver’s Going for the Gold

Amidst a sea of 400 applicants, STEM teacher Bryan Silver has been nominated to be a state finalist in this year’s Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, or PAEMST.  The award is considered to be the greatest honor a teacher of science or math can receive and of the five finalists selected for Hawaii, two will have the opportunity to meet President Obama and qualify for the national award.

Mr. Silver was nominated by previous award winner Art Kimura after Mr. Silver won the Woodie Flowers award last year.  Unfortunately, Mr. Kimura nominated Mr. Silver only three weeks before the application deadline, but Mr. Silver was up for the challenge.

During that three week span, Mr. Silver was able to complete a strenuous application, earning him a place among the state’s top five contenders.  One prerequisite was a 45-minute video of uninterrupted teaching, which he then had to transcribe.  Another was a 12 page essay on the philosophy of education, but  Mr. Silver’s original essay contained 18 pages forcing him to cut out 6 pages worth of information.  He did all this while teaching, advising the school’s robotics team, and working on his application for the NASA Fellowship program.

After persevering through all these trials, when asked why he felt he deserved this nomination, Mr. Silver said, “I am dedicated & passionate about giving students the opportunities to learn from themselves, their peers, and their mistakes.”  Mr. Silver is a shining example of what it means to be a Kalani teacher.  The dedication shown by him, and the many teachers like him, make us fortunate to be students at this school.

Correction: There were fewer than 1o applicants this year, not 400 for this award.