Flyer's Gritty Helps Present Pennsbury Teacher With Most Valuable Award

Provided by the Pennsbury School District:

Dr. Theresa Ricci (left), Assistant Superintendent, School Board Member Dr. Joanna Steer, Sandy Metzger, Superintendent Dr. Tom Smith, and Principal Travis Bloom.

Helping middle school students understand scientific concepts can be challenging. However, Charles Boehm Middle School teacher Sandy Metzger finds that connecting the principles to hockey does the trick. This approach scored her the title of January’s “Most Valuable Teacher” through the Future Goals program, presented by SAP.

Voting ran throughout January, and Metzger received the most votes out of 20 teachers nationwide. She was surprised by the news during a 7th-grade assembly at the school on Wednesday.

All 7th-grade classes and their teachers were called to the gymnasium, believing that principal Travis Bloom wanted to discuss good digital citizenship. Once gathered, Bloom began his presentation and quickly revealed that Metzger had won the contest.

Students and staff erupted in celebration as representatives from the Philadelphia Flyers, including famous mascot Gritty, walked into the gymnasium to present the stunned Metzger with her prize – Flyers tickets, a signed Carter Hart jersey, and a check for $10,000.

The prize money will support environmental and sustainability programming at Charles Boehm.

The Future Goals program is a collaboration between the National Hockey League (NHL,) The National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA,) and EVERFI K12. Metzger has been using the program in her science classroom for over six years.

The interactive, digital lessons provided through the program focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) through hockey.

“EVERFI’s Hockey Scholar digital course, with both a math and science edition, leverages highly interactive gameplay and the sport of hockey to reinforce key concepts like scientific thinking and data analysis, exposing students to foundational STEM concepts through real-life applications.” -www.everfi.com/courses/k-12.hockey-scholar-stem

“Sandy has done such a great job with this program,” said Bloom, principal of Charles Boehm Middle School. “She brings it back year after year, and our kids remember it. It creates an experience for them.”

“She just brings a real positive attitude to every day to school,” Bloom added. “She loves science, and she loves working with.”

Metzger is now in the running to be a finalist in the Future Goals Most Valuable Teacher contest. Finalists’ voting will coincide with Teacher Appreciate Week, May 8 to 12. The winning teacher will receive an additional $20,000 to support environmental and sustainability in their school district.