Laura Osborne, a fifth grade teacher at Sand Hill Elementary School in Effingham County, GA, has received two special honors from the Air Force Association. She has been named STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Teacher of the Year for the Savannah Chapter of the Air Force Association (AFA) and also AFA STEM Teacher of the Year for the state of Georgia. 

“The Air Force Association believes STEM teachers shape the future of our nation by introducing students to exciting new concepts and offering a glimpse into what is possible,” said Ed Hood, President, Savannah AFA Chapter 137. “Along with grants and scholarships, recognizing those who educate America's youth is an important aspect of what AFA is all about. The AFA's Teacher of the Year program provides an excellent platform for teacher recognition.” 

Osborne is involved with many STEM activities to include sponsoring her school’s STEM Club, coaching their award winning Science Olympiad team, and creating project based learning activities to engage her students. “For the past six years, an average of 90 third through fifth grade children have stayed after school once a month to participate in our STEM Club,” said Osborne. “Those projects have included constructing paper airplanes with a discussion of the forces that act upon a plane, building bridges and towers with various materials to understand the engineering design process, using multiples of numbers to create artwork, producing origami to review angles and shapes, and creating student-safe weapons such as marshmallow catapults and crossbows to discover how forces and trajectory affect projectiles. Students are eager to come in each month to find out 'What are we doing this month?'”

Savannah AFA Chapter 137 will host an award ceremony for Mrs. Osborne at a time in the near future when it is safe to gather in large numbers.