[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 163 (Monday, September 21, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E864]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CONGRATULATING MELISSA COLLINS

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                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 21, 2020

  Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Dr. Melissa 
Collins, a second-grade science teacher at the John P. Freeman Optional 
School in the Whitehaven neighborhood of Memphis, who last week was 
inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame. This honor was just 
the most recent recognition of Dr. Collins' huge influence in the 
classroom as an Early Childhood educator and as a policy maker. She was 
also the winner of a 2010 Presidential Award for Excellence in 
Mathematics and Science Teaching. During the East Room ceremony at the 
White House, President Obama jokingly asked Dr. Collins to consider 
tutoring his daughters. Among many of her accolades, Dr. Collins 
received the 2013 NEA Foundation's Horace Mann Award for Teaching 
Excellence, the 2014 West Tennessee Teacher of the Year Award, the 2015 
Queen Smith Award for Urban Education from the Council of Great City 
Schools, the 2015 Kennedy Center-Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher 
Award, the 2017 National Science Teachers Association Science Educator 
Development Award, and was one of six U.S. finalists for the $1 million 
Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Award in 2018. Dr. Collins has taught 
at John P. Freeman for 21 years and has been a standout from the start. 
In 2007, she instituted the ``Muffins with Moms'' days to have students 
see their mothers read to their classes and, later, the ``Dates for 
Dads'' days for fathers to have lunch with their children at school. 
She also instituted the ``Dress Up Friday'' days so students could show 
off a little. In class, she has her students don lab coats to conduct 
their science experiments and has been known to incorporate music in 
her teaching, part of the rationale for the Sondheim award. ``I learned 
to take a risk for my students and myself. I allowed my students to 
drive their own learning and curiosity,'' she has said. ``In the 
beginning, I would seek opportunities. Now, those opportunities seek 
me. I was chasing my dreams and now my dreams chase me.'' After 
graduating in 1992 from Whitehaven High School, where she played 
basketball and her father, Stanley, coached the football team, she 
earned a master's and doctorate from the University of Southern 
Mississippi while constantly giving back to her community. As a policy 
expert, Dr. Collins has travelled to India and Brazil and across the 
U.S. to confer with other recognized leaders, and to the Halls of 
Congress, where she has advised Senator Alexander and me on best 
practices and good ideas. I value her insights and her passion for the 
students she loves. On Friday, students still learning from home will 
stage a drive-by parade in her honor outside the Freeman Optional 
School. She is a true inspiration, and I wish her well as she continues 
her astonishing career.

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