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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E864]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONGRATULATING MELISSA COLLINS
______
HON. STEVE COHEN
of tennessee
in the house of representatives
Monday, September 21, 2020
Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Dr. Melissa
Collins, a second-grade science teacher at the John P. Freeman Optional
School in the Whitehaven neighborhood of Memphis, who last week was
inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame. This honor was just
the most recent recognition of Dr. Collins' huge influence in the
classroom as an Early Childhood educator and as a policy maker. She was
also the winner of a 2010 Presidential Award for Excellence in
Mathematics and Science Teaching. During the East Room ceremony at the
White House, President Obama jokingly asked Dr. Collins to consider
tutoring his daughters. Among many of her accolades, Dr. Collins
received the 2013 NEA Foundation's Horace Mann Award for Teaching
Excellence, the 2014 West Tennessee Teacher of the Year Award, the 2015
Queen Smith Award for Urban Education from the Council of Great City
Schools, the 2015 Kennedy Center-Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher
Award, the 2017 National Science Teachers Association Science Educator
Development Award, and was one of six U.S. finalists for the $1 million
Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Award in 2018. Dr. Collins has taught
at John P. Freeman for 21 years and has been a standout from the start.
In 2007, she instituted the ``Muffins with Moms'' days to have students
see their mothers read to their classes and, later, the ``Dates for
Dads'' days for fathers to have lunch with their children at school.
She also instituted the ``Dress Up Friday'' days so students could show
off a little. In class, she has her students don lab coats to conduct
their science experiments and has been known to incorporate music in
her teaching, part of the rationale for the Sondheim award. ``I learned
to take a risk for my students and myself. I allowed my students to
drive their own learning and curiosity,'' she has said. ``In the
beginning, I would seek opportunities. Now, those opportunities seek
me. I was chasing my dreams and now my dreams chase me.'' After
graduating in 1992 from Whitehaven High School, where she played
basketball and her father, Stanley, coached the football team, she
earned a master's and doctorate from the University of Southern
Mississippi while constantly giving back to her community. As a policy
expert, Dr. Collins has travelled to India and Brazil and across the
U.S. to confer with other recognized leaders, and to the Halls of
Congress, where she has advised Senator Alexander and me on best
practices and good ideas. I value her insights and her passion for the
students she loves. On Friday, students still learning from home will
stage a drive-by parade in her honor outside the Freeman Optional
School. She is a true inspiration, and I wish her well as she continues
her astonishing career.
____________________
