Science teacher Kiara Delle Hargrove gets urban high school students excited about chemistry at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute in Baltimore, one of the state's top performing high schools. Hargrove frequently turns lessons into fun, active experiments, such as a demonstration about distilling water from a can of soda, which became a competition to see who could distill the most water. She integrates reading and writing strategies into her lessons, insisting that the writing and spelling in her students' science papers be as accurate as the science and math. Teaching a variety of academic levels at once, from special education to gifted, she differentiates instruction to reach every student. Hargrove facilitates remedial math and science study skills among incoming freshmen through the Summer Bridge Program, and serves as the ninth-grade advisor. As co-advisor of the Math Engineering and Science Association (MESA), she helps elevate the study of math and science among girls, especially African-Americans, at Sudbrook Magnet Middle School. Hargrove was chair of the School Improvement Team from 2006-07 and is co-author of the School Improvement Plan. She has influenced many of her fellow teachers to go beyond traditional approaches to teaching.
1996 Morgan State University, B.S.
