The Jon Manon STEAM Team Education Award

Presented annually by DFSME to recognize a team of teachers who have collaborated within their school to achieve outstanding accomplishments, not possible without coordinated team planning and execution. The Award recognizes team collaboration within the school; administrative support for collective, interdisciplinary activities; and unique opportunities for students.

The Award recognizes the roles of the team members and provides a cash award of $1,000 for the team. This is to support projects – and publicizes to the school, district leadership, and the state the success of the team, and how the STEAM education of their students has been improved to make them more competitive in the future Delaware STEM workforce.

For more information about the submission or nomination of a project, please contact Randy Guschl guschlrj@gmail.com.

The Jon Manon STEAM Team Educators Award has honored an interdisciplinary team of six educators from the Caesar Rodney School District for Odyssey of the Mind, a creative activity and problem solving nonprofit that participates in tournament competition. Team members include Tara Faircloth, Christine Alois, Carolyn Bush, Kendra Dechenes, Tracy Fennemore, and Jennie McMahon.

Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem-solving program where teams are formed to compete at the state and world levels. Teams at Fifer Middle School and the Caesar Rodney High School have been working together as coaches and participants for over 7 years to grow the program. Collectively, they been able to send 3 teams to compete in Worlds Finals.

Odyssey of the Mind fosters Creative and Divergent Thinking, Teamwork, Self Confidence, Problem Solving, and Project Management. All of these skills are critical for our students for when they enter the global workforce.