Sheepshead Bay High School Teacher Wins Award

A Sheepshead Bay High School teacher has won a prestigious award from the Fund for the City of New York and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for her outstanding efforts in science.

Maria Cheryl Diangco, along with six other teachers from some of the city’s best high schools, has been recognized for her accomplishments in the classroom at Sheepshead Bay High School (3000 Avenue X), where she is an AP Biology and Science Research teacher. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation sponsors these awards that recognize exceptionally dedicated and creative teachers who have achieved outstanding results and inspired students of all backgrounds and abilities to pursue careers in science and mathematics. Diango is responsible for revitalizing the school’s science program and creating the school’s science research program.

Gotham Schools explains how she was chosen:

The teachers were nominated by students, parents, colleagues, and administrators and then selected by a committee made up of representatives from local science museums and universities, based on their students’ achievement, their involvement in extracurricular activities, and their efforts to promote math and science inside and outside the classroom.

The recipients’ high schools range from the city’s highest-performing to some of the weakest, including one that the city is trying to turn around using federal funding.

This is the third straight year that the Fund for the City of New York and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation gave awards to teachers throughout the city in the math and science field. Each teacher received a prize of $5,000 at last night’s award ceremony, while their school’s math and science program will get $2,500 at an assembly today.

Sheepshead Bay High School is currently in a federally-funded Race to the Top program to turn around the city’s troubled schools. But, at least in the case of Diangco, they’re showing they’ve got a faculty that can go head-to-head with that of Stuyvesant High School, Hunter High School and Midwood High School.