Russellville High School AP and Pre-AP biology teacher Lorraine Perez has been selected to be the District 1 regional director of the Alabama Science Teachers Association.

“I am excited to serve in this position and hope to bring awareness locally to the opportunity for science teachers to participate in such a great network of educators,” Perez said.

As regional director, her duties include recruiting new members to ASTA and NSTA; creating and coordinating infrastructure within the district to assist the executive board in completing missions and goals for the year; coordinating a minimum of one teacher workshop or in-service day in the district; and creating a presentation representing the district for the annual conference.

“Joining the ASTA will help teachers build Personal Learning Networks that specialize in science from teachers across the state. In my personal experience, I have gained more knowledge from these connections than any other single professional development opportunity,” Perez said.

She explained her focus this year is to encourage teachers to become more involved and take advantage of the network of teachers ASTA provides.

Perez’s district includes teachers from several counties, like Lauderdale, Colbert and Marion, in addition to Franklin.

“It is an honor to have a teacher from our staff serve as the regional director for ASTA. Mrs. Perez has received multiple notable accolades in the past few years, with the most recent for her innate ability to train and mentor student interns entering the field of education,” said RHS Principal Jason Goodwin. “I am extremely proud of Lorraine, and I am confident she will lead this organization well as a representative of the Russellville City School System.”

The conference Perez will be attending will focus on building STEAM education foundations featuring STEAM Education to Prepare the Future Workforce, Science Literacy, Evidence of 3-D Learning and Science Advocacy: Empowering Teachers and Students.