Education
Education

Cherokee schools tech education to get a boost

By Christopher Quinn
April 11, 2016

A Cherokee County teacher has won a Fulbright Award that will send her to New Zealand for five months to study how that country uses technology in education.

Carmel Elementary School STEM enrichment specialist Merry Willis is one of only 45 U.S. teachers named Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching grant winners for 2016-17. She will visit Wellington, New Zealand, from February to June of 2017 and learn how technology impacts student learning. Willis will focus on developing classroom resources, collaborative relationships and cross-cultural professional development for teachers in New Zealand and the U.S.

Fulbright recipients are selected based on their academic and professional achievement and demonstrated leadership potential.

Willis has received previous honors for her work including being named a 2015-16 Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert and 2015 Master Trainer; named a Museum of Aviation National STEM Academy’s STEM Teacher of the Year for 2015-16; was a Pitsco National Teacher of the Year for 2013-14; and a 2011 Emerging International Society for Technology in Education Leader.

About the Author

Christopher Quinn is a writer and editor who has worked for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 1999. He writes stories on Veterans Affairs, business including high-tech growth in metro Atlanta, Georgia's $72 billion farm economy, and he oversees assigning and editing news obituaries.

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