National Teaching Award
By - Barry McNamara, Communications and Marketing, Monmouth College
The 2007 alumna has received a national teaching award for her innovative work and leadership in the sciences at Proviso West High School.
Danielle English-Jones, a 2007 graduate of Monmouth College, has received a prestigious national teaching award.
English, a science teacher at Proviso West High School in suburban Chicago, was one of seven recipients of the Shell Urban Science Educator Development Award through the National Science Teaching Association. The award recognizes outstanding science educators in urban settings who are committed to advancing STEM education and supporting student success.
Some of English’s contributions at Proviso West include creating its Medical Club, which helps prepare students for careers in medicine and STEM; organizing Med TED Talks, which bring speakers to the school who meet with the students and share insights into their careers; and Proviso’s interdisciplinary Summer STEAM program, which allowed students the opportunity to dream of starting their own company and come up with a business plan for it, incorporating a variety of life skills throughout the process.
An alumna of Proviso West, English said the school is “near and dear to my heart.” A department chair, she reported that she “was one of the first African American teachers to achieve that role,” and she also coaches teachers in the science department.
A caring community
English was recruited to Monmouth by longtime Chicago-area admission counselor Peter Pitts, and she was joined in her incoming class by nine other Black students.
“It’s funny,” said English. “He recruited us all, and we all ended up graduating together.”
Pitts helped her get to Monmouth, and English said it was chemistry professor Patricia Draves – now Monmouth’s president – who helped her stay.
“Dr. Draves is the reason I got through college,” she said, clearly becoming emotional as she relived that time. “I want to cry right now. She really looked out for me.”
Aspiring to a career in medicine, biochemistry would’ve been a good initial choice of major for English, but she struggled with her early biology courses. However, she said, “Something clicked when I took biochemistry with Dr. Draves, and that’s when I changed my major to biochemistry.”
“Danielle is one of my favorites,” said Draves. “She’s the most hardworking and determined student I know, and I’m so glad she is impacting young people with her teaching.”
It was while pursuing a Ph.D. in life science at Purdue University that Jones realized teaching was the direction she wanted to go.
“I’d often felt I wanted to be a teacher, but I shied away from it and pursued medicine,” she said. “But while I was at Purdue, I realized I loved people and I loved teaching people. And teaching high school means working with students when they’re at such an important age.”
More on the award
The NSTA award provides support to outstanding K-12 science educators in pursuit of professional development, as well as active participation at the NSTA National Conference on Science Education and on committees that transition into leadership roles and serve to increase the science educator talent pool in STEM.
It consists of $1,800 to be used to attend the national conference; a year’s membership in NSTA and the Association for Multicultural Science Education; and a year’s subscription in the Shell Educator Cohort (a $6,000 value). At the national conference, recipients were invited to attend a variety of workshops and presentations of particular interest to urban teachers, and they were recognized at the Shell Awards reception.
“At the NSTA national conference, I engaged in professional learning focused on innovative practices, including the growing role of AI in science education,” said English, who added, “I’m grateful for the foundation that Monmouth College provided and I’m proud to represent our alumni community on a national level.”