Teacher honored by national association

Her students have helped reforest an area of Madagascar and learned advanced concepts in biotechnology.

 

That kind of instruction earned Biology Teacher of the Year for Nebraska honors for Dawn Fuelberth from the National Association of Biology Teachers. Fuelberth is a biology, physics and forensic science teacher at V.J. and Angela Skutt Catholic High School in Omaha.

 

Over the last eight years, Fuelberth has worked with the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha to reforest a corridor in Madagascar between two endangered lemur populations. Her students have raised more than $12,000 for zoo officials to hire people on the island to raise, plant and tend to the trees. 

 

Before teaching, Fuelberth worked at CalTech with Dr. Seymour Benzer researching gene therapy for Alzheimer’s. With that background, she has introduced biotechnology concepts into high school classrooms.

 

The award is given annually to a biology teacher from each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, other U.S. Territories and Canada. They will be presented Nov. 8 at the association’s national conference in San Diego.