Dawn Hester was recognized during Teacher Appreciation Week and received $5,000 worth of school supplies from Honda, May 6. Disguised as a celebration for the Option 16 team’s participation at World’s, Hester was awarded for her dedication to teaching, running the Robotics program, and for the past year, her resilience through breast cancer while keeping these commitments.
Having just returned from six weeks of leave due to cancer surgery, the honor came as a complete shock to Hester.
“I thought I was coming to school for a pizza party for the Robotics students,” she said. “I had just recovered from two surgeries, and I really wanted to be there to celebrate the students and their return from the championship in Houston with Principal Remillard. I was so surprised when I saw the sign with my name on it, saying ‘Congratulations!’”
The process for selecting Hester started several months ago. A city-wide message from Honda presented Career Technical Education (CTE) teacher Malinda Dixon with the opportunity.
“We got an email saying to nominate a teacher for Teacher Appreciation Week,” Dixon said. “When I saw it, I immediately thought of Mrs. Hester because of how great of a woman she is and everything she’s going through.”
Dixon said the application was extensive and she received help from several other staff members who also wanted to recognize Hester.
“I asked some of my department members for feedback on the information I was giving and [science teacher Luke] Bernady helped me with some of it,” Dixon said. “The form also required three additional quotes and I got one from our principal [Ernie] Remillard, from another CTE teacher, and [registrar Kimberly] Carroll, someone who works with her in robotics. They were all so happy to help.”
After submitting the application, Dixon received a reply saying that Honda wanted to learn more about Hester.
“She hadn’t won yet, but they were really interested in her [story],” Dixon said. “So, we arranged a Zoom meeting with Carroll and Remillard, and we were able to tell more verbally other than what was on the application. One of the main things we talked about was how she really influenced the amount of women in Robotics and STEM. There were very few girls enrolled in Robotics before she took over, but now the team is 50% female.”
Option 16 president Julia Smith (11) said Hester made a huge impact on her.
“Hester has worked so hard for the Robotics team and CTE Pathways for physics,” Smith said. “It all comes back to the work she has put in for the engineering department and what she’s done in particular to support promoting women. She’s been the orchestrator and communicator for how important it is for girls to pursue STEM. Hester has gotten me and everyone else so excited about the field because she’s so passionate about it, and without her, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
Out of 120 nominations in San Diego, Hester was one of four selected. Dixon said she was overjoyed when she got the news and immediately began to prepare the presentation.
“I’ve known Hester for at least 10 years, and I think she’s just superhuman,” Dixon said. “The way she is showing up every day to be such a great teacher is so admirable, and she completely deserved this. I and a couple of other teachers helped to make a list and worked daily with Honda to have it all come together.”
Honda presented Hester with tools specific to her classes, Principles of Engineering and Physics, such as Pasco Pasport Magnetic Field, Force, rotary motion sensors, Elegoo Uno R3 Project Starter Kits (Arduino Kits), capacitors, resistors, and more.
It was a surprise not only to Hester but to the Robotics team as well. Smith said it was overwhelming to see Hester back in person for the first time in weeks.
“Even when Hester was going through her chemo, her surgery, and all her treatment, she was still constantly communicating with us and supporting us from afar,” Smith said. “But, we still missed her and though we FaceTimed her during the competition, Hester couldn’t go to the World [Championships] with us like she did last year. We were really excited to see Ms. Hester and have her receive this award. They asked students to give speeches and I was really emotional then. I couldn’t really put into words how much she had done for us. She’s been one of the most phenomenal educators in my life, and she’s taught me so much just about engineering, about advocacy, and about being passionate about what you do and really putting that into other people and inspiring them.”
Hester said that seeing all the support from her students and fellow staff was heartwarming and that she was already putting the supplies to good use.
“It was really something special and I’m so honored to be recognized,” Hester said. “I just started using the Arduino kits, which are these really fun self-contained kits where students can learn coding and get hands-on experience in computer science and electrical engineering.”
Hester said she couldn’t be more thrilled to continue teaching and is excited about what future prospects the upcoming year is to bring.
“I’m so excited to come back, and I’m excited to continue to be here,” Hester said. “I feel good and I want to continue to look for new ways to inspire students and get them more involved in engineering.”
