UC High Biomedical Teacher Ellie Vandiver has been chosen as the San Diego Unified School District’s High School Teacher of the Year.
Vandiver was honored at the District Awards ceremony on May 9, and has proceeded on to compete for Teacher of the Year at the county level amongst 45 teachers from other districts in San Diego County. County results will be announced in October during a live broadcast of the ceremony at Balboa Theater. The five teachers chosen from the county will then compete for the state award (sdcoe.net).
According to Vandiver, the award came as a total surprise to her. She was completely unaware of the award until April 11 when she was asked by Principal Jeff Olivero to come help with a medical emergency. “I was in the lab, when Mr. Olivero came and said a student couldn’t breathe. When we arrived at the Media Center and I saw all these people crowding around, the first thing I thought was, ‘If there’s a student who can’t breathe, all these people will have to move away so I can get to him,’” she explained. Vandiver was then surprised by former students of the last three years as well as her family.
Vandiver admits that it took a couple days for the award to really sink in. “When it finally hit me, I was extremely honored, and felt fortunate to represent the profession,” she said.
This is Vandiver’s third year teaching at UC High. She previously taught at Crawford High and in Michigan. Prior to teaching, Vandiver worked as an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Nurse, and worked with high school students observing hospitals. “The teacher [of the high school students] realized I had a passion for working with kids, and offered me a position,” she explained. She decided to go back to school to earn her teaching credentials, and has now taught biomedical studies for 12 years.
Vandiver explained that playing a part in helping students decide their careers is the most rewarding part of her job. “I’ve had four of my students become doctors, 20 become nurses, and others become anything from physical therapists to veterinarians. If I had any part in making that happen… that’s what makes this great,” she said. “The best part of teaching this class is the opportunities we’re able to bring to the students. The way I see it, we need to expose kids to the outside, professional world, so they don’t get to college blindsided.”
Vandiver has gone out of her way to give her students these opportunities, according to Senior Cassie Berta, a student in the Biomedical Innovations class. “She’s [brought] in individuals pertaining to the medical field like RN’s and ophthalmologists. With the clinic internship that we as seniors had this year, she helped get us into departments such as surgery,” Berta said, adding, “[Vandiver’s] amazing. You can really tell she cares about her students…. She’s not only passionate about teaching, but also about the students themselves.”
Freshman Emma Choi, a student in Vandiver’s Principles of Biomedicine class, said, “[Vandiver] really knows what she is talking about. We work really hard the whole period, and she makes sure we understand the concepts and ask questions.”
The non-profit group Project Lead The Way provides the hands-on curriculum used by Vandiver and other schools. Project Lead The Way strives to provide Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education programs in middle schools and high schools all over the country (pltw.org). According to Vandiver, the projects are all hands-on and involve problem-solving and high-tech labs. The science is current, and no textbook is used. Vandiver believes her receiving the Teacher of the Year award will help create more opportunities for UC students. “Getting the award will allow me to open more doors for students, and hopefully a lot more opportunities and connections will be available for them,” she said.