2010 California State Science Fair
Teacher of the Year — Senior Division

The award citation at the Awards Ceremony reads:

This year’s Teacher of the Year started the school’s science fair program 9 years ago. Since then, the school has consistently been present at both the County and State Science Fairs, and recently has been nominated as a model for a small school science fair. This teacher has strived to make science an integral part of the school’s curriculum, requiring that each student complete 3 science fair projects before graduation. Building a strong infrastructure for the science department has resulted in 33% of students going on to choose degrees in math, science or engineering.

In addition to recruiting prominent scientists and engineers to serve as mentors for the students, our recipient is constantly raising money to equip the three labs this teacher has built at the school. This teacher’s students and principal highlight qualities of “dedication” and “going above and beyond what duties require.” One student described our recipient as being present from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. while the student refined his project.

Our recipient’s influence extends beyond the teacher’s own school. Students from other area schools are welcome to join the science club, where they can use this teacher’s lab to work on their projects. Our recipient not only organizes judges for the school’s science fair, but has also personally served as a judge for other schools and the State Science Fair.

Please join me in congratulating our Senior Division Teacher of the Year — from Ribet Academy in Los Angeles County — John-Emmanuel Shirajian!

John-Emmanuel was named as advisor on the following projects this year: J0417, J1021, J2226, S0909, and S1901.