Earlier this year, CTU and IFT member Nina Hike was honored by former President Joe Biden with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).
The award is the highest award a K-12 math and science teacher can receive from the U.S. government. It is given to those who go above and beyond in the classroom to improve STEM education, recognizing the vital role that America’s teachers play as mentors for the next generation of scientists, engineers, explorers, and innovators.
Nina has proven time and again that she’s dedicated to her Chicago students and determined to connect science to real life. In a Chalkbeat interview in 2021, Nina said she brings her “full self into the classroom. I have to bring the science person, the mother, the sister, the daughter, and the Black woman…And I want students to talk from their own perspectives, and not be afraid to challenge what’s happening in class.” With that spirit, Nina worked diligently with students to get through the pandemic and remote learning, and her classroom was a source of comfort after the police murder of George Floyd led to a need to react in the virtual classroom. “I know you came for chemistry,” she said, “but we can’t ignore what’s happening in our community.”
Throughout her career, Nina keeps her eye on the goal: educating her students and growing with them. “I am always trying to do high-caliber assignments with my students and find things that I don’t know the answers to. I am always learning with the students.”
That’s why she was nominated for the award in the first place by UIC College of Education Curriculum and Instruction Department Chair Maria Varelas: “Nina Hike’s footprint in Chicagoland and beyond is so marvelously extensive, valuable and significant. Chicago has been fortunate to have had a science teacher like Nina Hike with such consequential impact on so many lives for so many years.” Nina is currently a UIC College of Education doctoral student.
336 teachers nationwide earned this award, five of them from Illinois, on January 13, 2025 by President Biden. Winners receive $10,000 from the National Science Foundation and a trip to Washington, DC for recognition and professional development.
So congratulations, Nina, on well earned recognition, and thank you for everything you do for our students.