The Presidential Award means that my career has positively impacted others! Every day I go to work to make a difference in the lives of teens. I absolutely love helping kids learn mathematics, gain confidence, dream of their futures, and strive to reach their full potential. I love learning from, collaborating with, and growing friendships with fellow educators. I am forever grateful to my family, students, and colleagues who've helped me along this journey to become a Presidential Awardee!

Mary McMahon Helena, MT | 7-12, Mathematics, 2019

The official biography below was current at the time of the award. For this awardee's latest biographical information, see their profile page.

Mary Anne McMahon has been a teacher for 23 years and is beginning her first year at Jefferson High School where she will teach 9th-12th grade Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, and Algebra II. Previously, she spent two years at Helena High School and 21 years at Bozeman High School. Her last six years at Bozeman High were spent as the coordinator of the math tutoring center, providing differentiated instruction to students of all abilities along with coordinating schoolwide online mathematics programs for colleagues to use in filling student mathematics skills gaps. Mary Anne is passionate about building confidence in all students. She strives to make a positive difference in their lives through mutual respect, teaching them mathematics, and attending their activities. Her enthusiasm is contagious and because students know that she cares, they are motivated to take risks doing their best to exceed expectations. Mary Anne has presented professional development for improving mathematics literacy and closing skills gaps to colleagues, school board members, and at conferences. She led Bozeman High's adoption of both IXL and EdReady online skills gap closure programs along with doing extensive STAR testing data analysis for the school. She also networked with educators statewide as a member of the STREAM and Math and Science Partnerships (MSP)-Lead grants at Montana State University to create and implement curriculum, including a statewide bison population modeling project. Mary Anne earned a B.A. in secondary education with a mathematics emphasis from Carroll College. Her master's degree is in mathematics secondary education from Montana State University. Mary Anne is also a seven-time recipient of the Distinguished Educator Award and a Gold Star Educator of Montana.

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