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Cedar Lee's Pingrey named Outstanding Teacher
Very, very seldom do I write in first person, but my introduction to Jeff Pingrey simply begs that I do.It took me no time at all to learn why Pingrey, a seventh grade science teacher at Cedar Lee Middle School, was chosen as this year's Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher of the Year for Fauquier County.
When I entered the Cedar Lee office to tell the receptionist that I was there for an appointment with Pingrey, a student hearing my remark said to me ?a total stranger, mind you ?"He's an awesome teacher." Then, during our interview, Pingrey tried repeatedly to steer the conversation away from himself to his students.
In the midst of the interview, I realized that Pingrey wasn't being interviewed at all. Instead, he was doing what he does best ?teaching. As I temporarily lost control of the interview, he whipped out a sheet of paper from nowhere, with rapid strokes drew lines and circles, and with a nonchalant "Let me show you what I just showed our principal" began describing DNA, chromosomes, tags, histones and something new in genetic research.
Ask Pingrey's students about him and the compliments burst forth with uninhibited enthusiasm. They say things like: "Mr. Pingrey is the coolest teacher ever! His class is tons of fun, but we learn a lot too. Like, at the same time!" "He comes up with the most amazing things for us to do!" "Mr. Pingrey is a teacher who pushes us to exceed expectations and to raise the bar." "He is such an inspiration to all teachers and students. He has shown that science can be fun."
One can't help but believe that Pingrey and seventh grade students were made for each other. He enjoys them like nobody's business.
“Seventh-graders are the most excited to learn. They have the highest energy level. They are phenomenal students. Sixth graders are too cautious. Seventh graders will do experiments. They volunteer ideas. They're just cool. They're fun. They truly are unique," he said, barely catching his breath as he rattled off praise of the seventh grade group.
Working with young people was in the cards for Pingrey, beginning in his college days. Born and raised in Glen Falls, N.Y., he earned a bachelor's degree from West Virginia Wesleyan College and then went to graduate school at Boston University School of Divinity, aiming ultimately to work with youth in a camp environment. Realizing that wasn't quite the right fit, he had the opportunity to go to Cornell University as a graduate student on a research grant.
“I was loving life and along came Vietnam and I was drafted," Pingrey said. Following his tour as a Navy laboratory technician in 'Nam, he returned to the U.S. and married "a wonderful woman" whom he credits with pointing him toward teaching.
“She asked me if I had ever thought about teaching, and she encouraged me to pursue it," he said. Pursue it he did, attending State University of New York at Plattsburgh, where he discovered he needed 30 graduate hours to certify.
It was 1972 when he hit the front of the classroom in a junior high school in Carthage, NY, and knew he was batting a thousand.
“Teaching was the right fit for what I liked to do most. I really liked science, and I really liked kids so it was just right," he said. After teaching junior high science for seven years, including one year in Mainz, Germany, through a Department of Defense program, Pingrey found himself exchanging pre-teens for post-20's. His wife Anne's desire to attend nursing school in Rochester, N.Y., relocated the family and redirected Pingrey's career.
He spent a year as a training manager with Bausch and Lomb Pharmaceuticals, 10 years as a senior educational consultant with Eastman Kodak, and six years as a senior partner with Impact Consultants instructional designers. All the while he was in a classroom environment.
“I taught 30-year-old kids vs 12-year-old kids," he said with a laugh. And, while he enjoyed the salary the private sector offered, the world travel the Kodak job provided, and the challenge of developing training programs, still he missed those curious kids.
“I remember thinking what it would be like to be back in the [junior high] classroom. It was never out of my mind," he said. Finally in 2002 the call of the wild (make that adolescents) was too great, and he returned to his first calling. He taught biology and earth science in a small school in Scottsville, N.Y., from 2002-2004. During the summer of 2004, while vacationing with his wife in Williamsburg, Pingrey talked with Assistant Principal David Lee about a vacancy at Cedar Lee.
Tiring of the snow and frigid temperatures in their "snow capital" home in New York, the Pingreys were already toying with the idea of moving south. "We liked Virginia a lot, and we were thinking of moving this way," he said.
An application here, some planning there, and ?voila ?Pingrey was back in the company of seventh graders. For the past five years he has been turning Cedar Lee students on to science. His classroom is a buzz of activity ?with students conducting experiments or tending to the menagerie of animals whose cages line the walls (a dove, a parakeet, a giant Flemish rabbit, two fish tanks, a tadpole tank, a corn snake and a tank full of Madagascar hissing cockroaches). The bespectacled 64-year-old instructor moves with excitement around the room.
“I don't have a desk," he points out. "I don't want a desk. My preference is to stand and walk around the room. I can't sit still."
Pingrey's excitement for instruction extends far beyond his classroom walls. He leads his classes on tours of the marsh behind Cedar Lee and he leads an after-school dissection club (one member is a "budding surgeon," he said enthusiastically, noting that she removed a pig's neck glands "with unbelievable skill.") Every year since he's been at Cedar Lee, Pingrey has coordinated and conducted a three-day field trip to Port Isobel Island so students can work with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to understand the impact of humans on the environment in general and the Chesapeake Bay in particular.
“The kids really get to know what environmental science is all about," he said.
As science department chair at Cedar Lee, Pingrey organizes an annual science night ?an evening that features experiments, presentations, interactive demonstrations and a petting zoo. This year's event brought more than 500 community members to Cedar Lee on a Friday night.
No matter the project or predicament, a lack of resources doesn't deter Pingrey. He manages to acquire ?free of charge ?materials, college-level textbooks and lab equipment from companies, universities and science laboratories around the country. He aggressively advocated for expanded gifted and talented science offerings at Cedar Lee; under his tutelage one student extracted and examined DNA from the salivary gland of a fruit fly under the sponsorship of Wards Natural Sciences. Providing enrichment activities for any student interested in scientific exploration is definitely on Pingrey's daily agenda.
“He gives up his lunch time and after-school time to provide enrichment opportunities for every child ?not just the select few, but anyone with an interest," said CLMS Principal Steve Parker. "The thing that separates Jeff from his contemporaries is his ability to engage all of his students. He is a master at differentiating instruction and finding that motivation for every child in his class that makes him or her excited about learning. In all the student letters in support of his nomination, the words that resounded were ‘excitement' and ‘love of science.' He goes above and beyond to find unique ways to involve kids in science."
He has a passion for genetics and believes that textbooks are "weak in teaching it." Pingrey finds ways to incorporate the field into his curriculum. "I put our kids through rigorous genetics teaching, and I put them through all kinds of labs. Genetics is the most explosive field of science there is," he said with obvious excitement.
One wonders how Pingrey, as recipient of this year's outstanding teacher award, would describe a good teacher. "A good teacher loves to and wants to teach kids something they don't know," he said. "A good teacher really wants to stimulate curiosity."
What does this lover of science do when he encounters a student who doesn't even like science? "There is usually some place I can reach through and get 'em," he said with a sly grin. "I get 'em to learn some things they don't think they can learn."
Pingrey credits several current and former colleagues with having a strong influence on his teaching methods; describing his team teachers as "superior," "outstanding" and "extraordinary," he feels especially honored to have been singled out to represent both his school and his school division. "I work with so many good people," he said. "I take lessons from them every day."
Pingrey and his wife, Anne, a nurse practitioner for a cardiologist in Fredericksburg where the couple resides, have three grown children ?a son in Cairo and two daughters in New York, one of whom is a special education teacher ?and nine grandchildren. He and his wife enjoy traveling, especially in their motor home.
When school's not in session, though, Pingrey is like a fish out of water.
“When I'm on vacation, I can't wait to get back to school," he said. "Summer vacation is too long." It is obvious that he misses the daily interaction with students.
“I seem to be doing something of greater value when I'm teaching," he said."There's nothing like it."
Agnes Meyer Award
The Washington Post's Educational Foundation established the Agnes Meyer Award to recognize teachers who exemplify excellence in their profession, encourage creativity and quality instruction, and contribute to the improvement of education in the Washington metropolitan area.
The Post honors a total of 20 teachers each year, one representing private schools and 19 representing public schools in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Recipients of the Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award each receive $3,000 at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.
Criteria for the award, established by the Post, were the nominee's ability to instill in students a desire to learn and achieve, to understand the individual needs of students, to share subject matter effectively, to foster cooperative relationships with colleagues and the community, and to demonstrate outstanding leadership.
Pingrey was nominated for the award by his school's principal, faculty members and students; an advisory team selected him as the school division's winner from among seven nominees. The Fauquier County School Board honored the nominees at its March 9 meeting. They were: Anita Brinson, Greenville Elementary; Mary Carter, Pearson Elementary; Robin Goolsby, Miller Elementary; Lisa Mergen, Auburn Middle; Cherish Smith, Liberty High; Carrie Vaughn, Bradley Elementary; and Pingrey.
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