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Megann Erni Wins NWPE Grant
posted by: Cindy Omlin | March 09, 2016, 10:14 PM   

Congratulations to Megann Erni, Waterville High School Math teacher, who was recently awarded a $250 New Classroom Start Up Grant.  NWPE member and one of the leaders of the Waterville Teacher Leadership Council Justin Grillo presented the award at a staff meeting focused on leadership. 

megann erni cropA recent member of NWPE, Ms. Erni says she joined NWPE “because of the positive reputation it has to assist teachers with the business and legal side of the profession. I chose to join NWPE because I know I have strong safety and security as a professional.”  She also appreciates  NWPE’s “relentless behind-the-scenes work to ensure an education experience that will always be positive to help students succeed.”

Ms. Erni will use the funds to help fund the purchase of 20 new TI-30 Scientific Calculators for the math classroom. Currently, she has less than 15 scientific calculators for students to utilize in the math classroom, which hinders their productivity and efficiency. The new calculators will assist students with complex computations and allow all students to have access to this basic mathematical technology.  Ms. Erni happily states, “This grant will allow all students to have an equitable math education experience.”

Ms. Erni chose math education as a profession because she wanted to assist students who struggle with the subject. Growing up, she had a very difficult time with math, but was determined to succeed. Her struggle continued in college, yet she still loved it. “The fuel that prompted me to continue to fight to master the content was from my math teachers who never gave up on me and who never failed to help me. As a result, I wanted to emulate my math teachers who assisted me with the content and became influential mentors. Now, I thoroughly enjoy the profession because I am able to assist others in the content area.”

Ms. Erni loves to support her students both inside and outside the classroom but also finds that one her biggest challenges.  “The biggest challenge as an educator has been to balance my academic duties with supporting students in their extracurricular activities. The students enjoy it when I come to their games and youth group events because then they know that I support them as a whole person. The balance of time has been a struggle because I honestly want them to succeed in math and I want to design high quality math lessons, yet the students need support in other areas of their lives.”  This challenge, however, is also one of her greatest satisfactions. “I am glad to be a part of students' lives and to be a positive, influential factor.”

Ms. Erni’s idea for raising the professionalism of teaching as a career mirrors the important work of NWPE which is to “raise awareness of the positive projects that teachers are implementing to enhance the educational experience for students.”  She believes that should include the cross-curricular projects and single-subject projects that make school memorable. “Through project-based learning, students will be able to gain the life-long skills of teamwork, interpersonal communication, and deeper content understanding and implementation. By raising awareness of projects that teachers are doing to make a difference in the lives of America’s youth, this will help inspire others and will fuel their respect for the profession. We need to give others a reason to believe that teachers are making a difference in order to increase respect for the profession.”

NWPE appreciates Ms. Erni for her relentless devotion to her students personal wellbeing, academic achievement and gaining the life-long skills of teamwork, interpersonal communication, and deeper content understanding and its implementation.

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