For the Educator of the Year contest I choose to nominate Mrs. Tamara Averell. She has taught at the Delaware Military Academy for about 12 years.  She is my science teacher and also my Science Olympiad coach. I am learning something new every day,and I enjoy finishing the day with her class.

When we are learning a new topic, she relates it to the real world. For example, during our chemistry unit she related some of it to desserts. I know it sounds a little weird, but it actually helped us understand the topic better. Chemistry was hard at first, and she even said what we would think at first during this unit. She said, “you will understand it in class for a little, but as  soon as you go home, you will forget, and that’s okay.The more we practice and participate, you will understand it fully.”

She is very encouraging and helps us until we all get it. She does not rush and just give you class work to be silent for the rest of the class period like some teachers do. I have been in Science Olympiad for 3 years now. Since I'm in high school now, I have a new coach for this event. She is helpful,  and we are all determined to place 1st for the invitational and the competition when the time comes around.

Adding Science Olympiad as a club at my school have cadets more options for extracurricular activities. Not everyone is into sports which is a main thing in my school. She volunteers in our community and lets students go with her to help the cause. She offers after school help almost everyday to study more of class related topics or extra Science Olympiad time to work on your event. This helps me a lot to finish science olympiad projects that I didn't get done during my class period.

She is a fun teacher, and I enjoy being her student. I have learned so much this year already. At my other school, my science class was just on computers the whole time doing problems by yourself. That was not an ideal way for learning for me. She is a great teacher, and coach and she is my nomination for Educator of the Year.