I am honored for having been deemed worthy of this award, especially at this point in my career. There are many people who have helped make me the teacher I am today and I would like to share some special thanks and words about them:

First and foremost, I would like to thank my parents and my sister. Despite what most other people suggested, they never thought I was wasting a degree in chemistry to become a teacher. They have always been supportive of all my endeavors.
To Mrs. Susan Spadafina, my first chemistry teacher, who turned chemistry from just another sophomore year course into a passion of mine.
To Mrs. Bernice Colefield, Mrs. Midge Murrin, Mrs. Donna Miller, and Ms. Kathy Sisco for being the most influential teachers in my childhood. I never realized until I got older how much of their time they gave to provide me with some great learning experiences and opportunities.
To Mr. Howell Detofsky and Mr. Richard Tuliszewski, my junior and senior year cooperating teachers respectively, from whom I learned more than all of my other college courses lumped together.
To Dr. James Chambers and the Collegebound Program at TCNJ, where I have taught summer courses the last six summers, each of which have in their own way been some of the most gratifying experiences of my career.
To Dr. Phil Dumas and the late Dr. Paul Cohen for their help and guidance during my college years. As the only chemistry education major in my class, I am grateful for the help and encouragement they gave me.
To Mr. Christopher Wannemacher, from whom I learned that teachers can be and are among the brightest society has to offer. The discussions we have had and ideas we have bounced off each other have been invaluable to me.
To the teachers of the Morris Knolls science department, for being the creative, interesting, and spontaneous teachers most people are not fortunate to have in their science education experience.
To the faculty and staff, for making my four years at Morris Knolls an enjoyable start to my career. I owe a special thanks to Mrs. Beverly Ferguson, Mr. Scott Gambale, Ms. Gretchen Gannon, Ms. Tricia Goginsky, Mr. Matt Jusinski, Mrs. Turid Rudge, and Mr. Kurt Weinheimer for all of the “little things” they have done for me and for the enlightening conversations we have shared.
To the students I have had past and present, you have shown me time after time that becoming a teacher has been more rewarding than I imagined.