Two Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) educators have won the nation’s highest honor for math and science teachers—the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching (PAEMST).
duPont Manual High School teacher Benjamin Molberger and Central High School science teacher Miranda Messer are two of 336 U.S. teachers who were winners from 2021-2024 who were announced this week by President Biden.
Molberger's and Messer’s awards date back to 2021. At that time, Molberger was a math teacher at Atherton High School when his principal nominated him. Molberger was also named a finalist in 2023 but hadn't heard anything since.
“The email telling me I had been selected as Kentucky's National Awardee was surreal and caught me completely by surprise," Molberger said. "I am extremely grateful for this recognition as it validates not just the hard work that I have put into becoming the best teacher I can, but also the hard work of all the other educators who have helped influence me along the way because without them, this never would have been possible."
Molberger joined JCPS in 2011. He taught math at Doss, Atherton and Jeffersontown high schools before becoming an intervention teacher at Manual this school year. Following a brief career in information technology, Molberger moved to Louisville after being recruited as an alternative certification candidate by Teach Kentucky.
For Messer, the email congratulating her for the 2021 award this week also came as a huge surprise.
“I was nominated for this award in 2020 and recorded my lessons during virtual instruction,” Messer said. “So much has happened in my life and in the classroom since then, so it was a great feeling to be recognized for my work and reflect on how much I've grown over the past few years. I feel honored to receive this award and to have had the opportunity to learn alongside so many amazing JCPS educators throughout my career.”
Messer has been a high school science educator for more than 20 years. She has spent the last six years at Central High School teaching biology, after working nine years as a district resource teacher influencing curriculum, assessment, and professional development. Miranda began her career at Ballard High School, where she taught science for five years. As the Montessori science lead at Central, Messer collaborates and develops learning opportunities with other teachers and student leaders to provide meaningful real-world experiences, in addition to teaching a full schedule of six multiage high school science classes.