Laura Stiles, a science teacher, went home with one of Wakefield’s most recognizable awards, Teacher of the Year, this October. As a teacher for the past eleven years, it is evident that Stiles is a dedicated teacher. Stiles was surprised but also pleased to be recognized as Teacher of the Year.

When asked what makes Stiles stand out, she went on to explain that she isn’t different than others, instead, she learns from those around her.

“I don’t think I am different than other teachers,” said Stiles. “I look at other teachers and I think that I can learn a lot from them. I do what I do and it works for me, but there’s some people that do things I don’t have the skills to do. I don’t think I do anything any different than anybody else.”

It’s clear that work ethic influenced others to nominate Stiles. Assistant principal, Melissa Thomas, described Stiles’ work ethic.

“I think that Ms. Stiles is completely dedicated to Wakefield High School, and to the students and the staff,” said Thomas. She gives 110 percent to her students, and she’s very focused on making sure her students are successful in the classroom.”

Stiles relies on a more hands-on approach and has several levels of interaction with students through various labs.

“I do what I need to for the kids to understand what we’re doing,” said Stiles. “I will lecture when it’s necessary to get the information out, I’ll try to follow up or preview topics with worksheets or questions to help them think about and try to make them think through things on their own more now than just giving them information. I also ask them a lot of questions to help them see the connections and to explain things a little bit better.”

Several perks come along with winning Teacher of the Year. This year, according to Thomas, Stiles will get a ring from Josten’s, a banquet, and a basket.

“Clubs, staff members, individual students, and different people donate to it [the basket] and there’s usually a plethora of things,” said Thomas. “I give the teacher a datasheet asking what things they would like and are interested in. We then give that out to the staff and they choose what to donate.”

The Josten’s ring will be presented during the banquet, where Stiles and her family are invited, as well as the rest of the faculty, to honor Stiles.

Student, Taylor Treadwell, explained the labs they conduct in class.

“The labs we do really help explain what we learn in class,” said Treadwell. “It’s much better getting a visual understanding of what you read in notes, worksheets, and in textbooks.”

Thomas described Stiles in the classroom.

“She’s tough, but if you’ve ever had her in class she’s very good with making sure the students understand the curriculum. She does a lot of labs making sure there is hands-on material. I don’t know of a time that I’ve ever walked into her classroom when she was sitting down. She’s always up, moving, talking to the kids, making sure everybody’s understanding what’s going on, and interacting with the students. There’s always constant learning.”

Student, Andrew Lair, explained the reason for his success in Honors Molecular Biology (the AP Biology prerequisite, and one of the many classes Stiles instructs.)

“Ms. Stiles is one of the few teachers that can relate with her students and understand how we learn,” said Lair. “She does a great job of holding everyone accountable because she sees potential in all of her students and gets them to potential.”