Up to the minute articles touting our latest accomplishments.
December 11, 2018
Middleburg Heights, OH – Polaris Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Instructor, Stacey Wisniewski, has a talent for bringing out the best in her students at Olmsted Falls Middle School. Her innovative teaching methods have been rewarded as she was recently honored with the 2018-2019 Outstanding PLTW Teacher award. She will be formally recognized at the 2019 Project Lead the Way Summit in Anaheim, California in February. This is the first time a Polaris teacher has been given this award. She is now eligible to be considered for the National Teacher of the Year award, which is scheduled to be announced in the coming weeks. The Outstanding PLTW Teacher award honors teachers who deliver an inspiring and empowering student experience, expand access to PLTW programs in the school and in the community and transform the classroom using innovative, engaging teaching methods. Wisniewski teaches two Polaris Project Lead the Way Gateway classes at Olmsted Falls Middle School: Medical Detectives and Design & Modeling. These classes introduce students to STEM career opportunities using engaging, real world classroom exercises. Wisniewski also coaches the middle school SkillsUSA competition students and is the staff advisor for the GEMS (Girls in Engineering, Math and Science) club. GEMS students get together after school each week to take a deep dive into STEM through fun, hands-on activities. Project Lead the Way is a nonprofit organization that provides transformative learning experiences for PreK-12 students and teachers across the U.S. PLTW empowers students to develop in-demand, transportable knowledge and skills through pathways in computer science, engineering and biomedical science. PLTW’s teacher training and resources support teachers as they engage their students in real-world learning. Approximately 11,500 elementary, middle and high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia offer PLTW programs. For more information on Project Lead the Way, visit pltw.org. Locally, Polaris serves hundreds of students enrolled in Project Lead the Way programs. These classes are housed in the middle and high schools within the Berea, Brooklyn, Fairview, North Olmsted, Olmsted Falls and Strongsville School Districts. To learn more about Polaris PLTW programs, visit www.polaris.edu/grades-7-12. For additional information, contact Doug Miller at (440) 891-7609 or email dmiller@polaris.edu ###
This latest award is one of many for Olszewski this year. In January he was recognized as the 2018 Ohio Restaurant Association (ORA) Educator of the Year at the ORA Industry Awards Celebration and was later given the 2018 Ohio ProStart Educator of Excellence Award. In May he received the National ProStart Educator of Excellence award in Chicago. This past summer he was honored as the 2019 Ohio Board of Education District Five Ohio Teacher of the Year. Chef Olszewski has fostered an environment of respect, passion and opportunity for his students, and his dedication to promoting the culinary industry and preparing his students for career success is unmatched. Under Chef Olszewski’s leadership, Polaris Career Center’s Chef Training program captured eight consecutive Ohio ProStart Invitational culinary championships, two Invitational management championships and back-to-back National ProStart Invitational culinary championships in 2016 and 2017. Olszewski is a two time Ohio ProStart Educator of Excellence honoree, a two time recipient of the National Restaurant Association Teacher Excellence Award, a two-time American Culinary Federation Cleveland Chapter Culinary Educator of the Year, an Ohio Restaurant Association (ORA) Outstanding Industry Educator Award winner and was previously honored with the Crystal Apple Award. In addition, he and his students have received over 20 resolutions from the Ohio State House and Ohio Senate and have been recognized before both chambers over the past several years. Olszewski has been Chef Training Instructor at Polaris for 19 years where he and his students manage a popular student-run restaurant. The restaurant serves thousands of residents from the surrounding communities. Chef O (as he's often called) brings a wealth of industry experience to the classroom. Prior to joining Polaris, Olszewski spent seven years as Executive Chef at Don’s Pomeroy House in Strongsville, Ohio. He received his formal training at the Stouffer’s Culinary Apprenticeship Program in Cleveland, and he has been a member of the American Culinary Federation for 27 years. ProStart is the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation’s (NRAEF) nationwide high school program that unites classrooms and industry to develop tomorrow’s restaurant and foodservice talent. The program reaches nearly 140,000 students in more than 1,800 high schools across 50 states, Guam and Department of Defense Education Activity schools in Europe and the Pacific. For additional information, contact Doug Miller at (440) 891-7609 or email dmiller@polaris.edu ### Keep up on the latest Polaris news! Check out our Polaris news release archive.