Kiara Hargrove flung her hands in the air, high-fived a line of her students, wiped tears from her eyes and leaped across the gym to hug another teacher.
She had reason to celebrate: Hargrove, a chemistry teacher and cheerleading coach at Polytechnic Institute in Baltimore, learned Thursday that she is among 75 educators across the nation this year to win $25,000 from the Milken Family Foundation.
“She makes class fun,” said Azaria Leach, one of her 10th-grade chemistry students.
“She breaks everything down so we can understand.”
NFL great Rosey Grier and Lowell Milken, co-founder of the foundation, attended the surprise announcement at an assembly in the school?s gym, where hundreds of students screamed and clapped when they learned one of their favorite teachers earned the Milken National Educator Award.
Milken, who has been presenting awards to teachers for 20 years, said recipients can spend the money on whatever they want.
A daughter of two teachers and an alumna of Poly and Morgan State University, Hargrove says she tries to inspire students with exciting lesson plans she often works on at 4 a.m.
She turned a potentially dull experiment about distilling water from a soda can into a contest among students to see who could distill the most water.
As most people envision old white men as chemistry teachers, Hargrove, a 33-year-old black woman, serves as an inspiration to young girls to pursue science-related careers, said Nancy Grasmick, state schools superintendent. In a school where more than 70 percent of her students are black, pictures of female and minority biologists and engineers decorate her classroom.
“I tell students that my chemistry teachers looked nothing likeme,” Hargrove said.
“But I try to show them it?s cool to be smart. It?s cool to be a nerd.”
Of 300 nominations statewide for the award, state education officials submitted to the foundation the names of Hargrove and Mabrooka Chaudhry, a social studies teacher from Atholton High School in Columbia.
Hargrove?s husband, Damon Bennett, and their two sons, Damon Jr., 5, and Dempson, 3, embraced her at Thursday?s announcement.
Bennett said: “Teaching is her life.”
What?s next
Hargrove and Chaudhry will travel in March to California for a conference of the nation?s top teachers.
