The Presidential Award is the ultimate honor for teachers. The rigorous process promotes self-improvement as it evaluates a teacher in every dimension. The opportunity of having prominent scientists and educators evaluate a lesson of my students conceptualizing molecular processes to determine if I have met the challenge is awesome. Being selected for the Presidential Award is the highlight of my career.

Lucy McKone Brookhaven, MS | 7-12, Science, 2011

The official biography below was current at the time of the award.

Lucy McKone has been an educator for more than 25 years and has spent the last 23 years teaching various science courses, including Chemistry and Biomedical Research, at Enterprise Attendance Center. In 2009, Lucy was selected to become a host teacher for the first Princeton Learning Center Satellite in Mississippi. Using cutting-edge biotechnology equipment provided as part of the satellite, she has trained teachers in DNA lab-based investigations and provided the necessary resources for the implementation of these labs in their classrooms. Lucy’s love of molecular biology goes beyond the classroom. Her involvement with the Wolbachia project inspired her vision of organizing the Nation’s first Wolbachia Rodeo in 2011. This biotechnology competition united six high schools in the same lab with the common goal of determining whether common insect pests were infected with the bacteria Wolbachia. Working with scientists present for the competition, students extracted and amplified DNA using a polymerase chain reaction. Lucy has a B.S. and an M.S. in science education from the University of Southern Mississippi. She is a certified secondary science school teacher and is a National Board Certified Teacher in adolescence and young adulthood science.

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