STEM Teacher Tammy Rumplik talks to the Agawam School Committee about Project Lead The Way, while her students wait to present their prototypes.
Photo credit: Agawam Media
AGAWAM — Roberta Doering Middle School STEM teacher Tammy Rumplik was announced as a co-winner for 2025 Massachusetts STEM Teacher of the Year at the Massachusetts STEM summit on May 7.
The goal of the summit is to recognize and honor a Massachusetts STEM teacher who makes a significant contribution to STEM education and promotes the impact that educator is making in the field.
The event took place at Gillette Stadium and as part of honoring the teachers of the year, the New England Patriots committed a $5,000 grant to Rumplik and the school system for STEM related uses.
The School Committee recognized Rumplik during its meeting on May 13 where she talked about the award and gave a STEM report for grades kindergarten through 6.
“It was a very exciting time,” Rumplik stated, “The last week or so has been a whirlwind. I was able to speak at the [Massachusetts] STEM summit, which was amazing and the co-winner, she was amazing as well. It was just really exciting to be there, apart of that event and answering questions, being a part of the panel.”
Rumplik also explained an encounter where a representative from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education came up to her to take a selfie.
“I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m just like a teacher from Agawam’ and it felt really cool to have that recognition. I love what I do and hopefully that shows, and I know a lot of your children I’ve had as my science students. I just love it,” she stated.
Rumplik then gave a presentation and brought some of her students up to give a STEM report for kindergarten through sixth grade.
Rumplik and her students were in Boston on May 9 to take place in the Applied Learning Showcase. The showcase is apart of Project Lead The Way, which is the curriculum that is used from kindergarten to sixth grade to allow students to do more hands-on science. Agawam Public Schools recently received an expansion grant to continue their work with the program for at least three more years. The grant will cover training and materials for teachers.
Rumplik explained that the curriculum is real life science learning that is applied, and it uses the philosophy APP which stands for activities, projects and then problems.
“So, the kids are learning their content through doing activities versus just memorization then they are doing projects where they’re practicing their skills some more and then they’re solving real world problems where they’re applying their knowledge to real life scenarios,” Rumplik stated.
Roberta Doering School also received recognition from the Project Lead The Way program as a 2024-2025 distinguished Gateway School, which recognizes schools across the United States for their efforts to provide broad access to transformative learning experiences for students through the gateway program.
STEM students were also at the School Committee meeting to showcase their prototypes for occupational therapy patients.
