• SLPS names STEM Teacher of the Year
     
    STEM

    Posted: Wednesday, December 11, 2013 9:44 pm

    By American staff | 0 comments

    Glen Vest, a math teacher at Gateway STEM High School, has been recognized as the St. Louis Public School District’s 2013 Gateway STEM Teacher of the Year for his ability to show students how math and science are used daily in the “real world.”

    “As an educator at Gateway STEM High School, Glen Vest embodies the teaching philosophy that drives the STEM initiative in American education today,” said John Everson, chair of the Mathematics Department at Gateway STEM High School. “Glen promotes the study and application of mathematics in the real world to bring more students to engineering fields in the future.”

    Vest started his teaching career in 1987 as a science teacher at the U.S. Air Force Academy Preparatory School in Colorado Springs. He has taught in several schools in the St. Louis area and started at Gateway STEM High School in August 2010. Along with serving as a math teacher, he has also taught night school science (2011-12) and chemistry (2012-13) at Gateway STEM. Vest is also an adjunct math teacher at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Webster University. 

    “He is a humorous and personable teacher,” student Joshua Lake wrote of Vest. “He also likes to find new ways of teaching the class that some students might grasp easier, like through technology. I can relate to Mr. Vest in more ways than most teachers. Even if you don’t like him as a teacher, it’s hard not to learn from the way he teaches. He is one of the best, if not the best, teacher I have ever had.”

    To earn the 2013 Gateway STEM Teacher of the Year Award, nominees must explain how they implement the teaching of STEM, be recommended by two professional colleagues and a student, and provide a resume.

    Vest was honored with an awards reception at the Danforth Plant Science Center and presented with a $1,000 award from the St. Louis Public Schools Foundation. In addition, he received a trophy and a plaque.