Teachers win Lubrizol award as a team

A team of Fairport Harding High School teachers won an award from the Lubrizol Corp. Dec. 18 for the work it put into the district’s design lab.

The honor comes with a $10,000 check the school can use to up the ante with its design lab and individualized learning program, dubbed Hooked on Education, Fairport Schools confirm.

According to Cynthia Clair, administrative assistant to Superintendent Domenic Paolo, the teachers who won the award are lead science, technology, engineering and math teacher Russ Messer, along with team STEM teachers Paul Conn, Sheila Felix, Jerry Hites, Tim Hlousek, Sarah Murphey and Susan Tenon.

Aside from the fact that this is the first time Lubrizol Corp. recognized a team, as opposed to a single teacher, in is awardgiving, Paolo said he’s just plain proud of the fact that his school system is on the cutting edge of the kind of

personalized learning the district’s design lab and its teachers nurture.

“Their success begins with an incredible lead teacher named Russ

Messer,” Paolo said.

“He leads not with positional power but with

a kind of moral authority that is a direct result of his character and dedication. He leads by example and creates a climate where the rest of his teaching is willing to take risks and innovate so that every one of their students has an opportunity to learn in the way that best matches their own individual talents and interests.”

Clair said the winnings will be divided as the deign-lab team sees fit.

“The total award amount is $10,000.00,” she said. “Of that amount, as the lead STEM teacher, Mr. Messer can decide how to appropriate half of the funds toward a purchase of STEM equipment. The remaining amount will be decided as a team how to be best utilized in the design lab.”

Paolo said the design lab team at Fairport is at the forefront of direction in which secondary education is headed.

“Their brand of personalized learning is changing the way we look at education,” he said.

“They are more concerned with what their students are becoming than what they can repeat back on a test. They go beyond teaching their students. They inspire them.”

JONATHAN TRESSLER — THE NEWS-HERALD In this May 19, 2016 photo, Ben McGrath, an eighth-grdaer in the Fairport Harbor School District, takes cover at the high school’s football field as his group’s homemade, water-powered bottle rocket blasts off during the performance phase of a...