[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 137 (Wednesday, November 12, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1544]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING SARAH MASON AS THE HURLBURT AIR FORCE ASSOCIATION CHAPTER 
     398 ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AND OVERALL TEACHER OF THE YEAR FOR 2014

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JEFF MILLER

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 12, 2014

  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to recognize 
Ms. Sarah Mason as the Hurlburt Air Force Association Chapter 398 
Elementary School and the esteemed Overall Teacher of the Year for 
2014. Ms. Mason was among three educators selected throughout Northwest 
Florida for her inspiring efforts to bolster her students' interest in 
science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, and I am 
pleased to honor her outstanding achievements.
   Though Ms. Mason has been teaching for ten years, she was keenly 
aware of her passion for putting others before herself long before she 
stepped foot in a classroom as an educator. Her teaching aspirations 
took flight in high school, when she joined the Gold Seal Quality Care 
program her junior year, which afforded her the opportunity to inspire 
the young minds of local elementary school students. Ms. Mason built on 
this positive experience and pursued a Bachelor of Education at the 
University of West Florida. She has spent the last seven years of her 
decade of teaching at Blue Angels Elementary School in Pensacola, 
Florida.
   Ms. Mason credits her family for igniting in her curiosity and 
passion for science, which indirectly led to the chemical reaction 
rocket experiments in her backyard as a child that have helped her 
cultivate tomorrow's scientists and engineers as an adult. She brings 
science to life in her classroom through hands-on activities, like the 
pegboard ``engineering wall'' that allows students to engineer their 
own creations using pegs, rubber bands, and pipes and the building and 
analyzing of marble roller coasters to understand mathematical, 
scientific and engineering concepts through real world applications.
   Ms. Mason also welcomes the latest technology in her classroom, 
including iPads loaded with STEM applications that stimulate student 
interest in outer space through the engineering of models of irregular 
galaxies and discovering the complex motions of the planets of our 
solar system, as well as constructing motors. In addition, Northwest 
Florida is home to some of the world's finest engineers, and Ms. Mason 
has partnered with Gulf Power Company making it possible for her 
students to engage its engineers in the developing of their classroom 
robots.
   Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to congratulate Ms. Mason on this well-
earned achievement of Hurlburt Air Force Association Chapter 398 
Elementary School and the esteemed Overall Teacher of the Year for 2014 
and thank her for her commitment to service and dedication to the 
Northwest Florida community. My wife Vicki joins me in wishing Ms. 
Mason all the best for continued success.

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