Award Winning Educator
A middle-school science teacher in West Branch, Iowa, Hector Ibarra was greatly impacted by teachers in Clear Lake. He says, “The teachers that really should be honored are my fourth grade teacher, Myrtle Olson, and elementary principal Grace Anderson. Without their guidance and willingness to work with me after school, there is no telling what I would be doing now.”
Hector adds, “Then there was Mr. Gabrielson, my social studies teacher, Mr. Sunner, an English teacher, and my biology teacher Mr. Gilbert. All through my life I have been blessed with people who showed an interest in me as a student and as a person. In my mind, only parents are more influential than teachers in helping mold and shape the young minds of the future. In a teachers’ hand is the ability to turn someone on to brighter and better things.”
His experiences lead Hector to form his own unique philosophy of education: He would like to be remembered as a teacher who took students “beyond the four walls of the classroom to pursue activities that have a strong community and business involvement.”
With that philosophy in mind, field-based research has been an important component of Ibarra’s teaching approach. He has utilized a number of grants to enable his students to undertake learning projects. Among these was Operation Appreciation, a service-oriented project in which students learned the germination requirements of bulbs as they forced tulip, hyacinth and narcissus into flowering out of season, then used the results of their work to surprise citizens in nursing homes and business personnel.
In Mr. Ibarra’s classroom, light bulbs and water faucets became experimental equipment as students measured the energy and water consumption of these devices and estimated how substituting more efficient tools might save energy and money and reduce pollution. Typical of the work, Hector leads, this project actively involved parents working with children on measurement, calculation and verification of results.
Among his most successful projects, the one involving the design, construction and racing of miniature solar cars allowed over 100 schools and 5,000 students to participate. Under his leadership, West Branch Middle School hosted the Regional Solar Car Competition as a part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2003 Middle School Science Bowl.
As Region 7 winners of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Youth Award, in April of 2004 Ibarra’s students met President George W. Bush in Washington, D.C., in the White House Rose Garden. For their innovative work in science education, his students have received a wide array of other honors and awards.
Hector’s work has been widely recognized beginning in 1991 with the IAS Excellence in Teaching Award. In 1992 he studied in Russia and in Japan in 1997 as part of the Fullbright program. He is the author of a number of nationally-published articles about his science programs. Awards and honors have included:
1993 Governor’s Commission Involvement Award; Milken National Educator Award; Presidential Science Teaching Award.
1994 Gustav-Ohaus Innovations Award
1995 named National Wildlife Federation Conservation Educator
1999 first listed in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers; an honor repeated numerous years; finalist – Iowa Teacher of the Year
2000 EPA Region VII Environmental Educator of the Year for the State of Iowa; American Water Works Association National Award; State Farm Good Neighbor National Teacher Award; Governor’s Environmental Excellence Leadership Award; finalist – Iowa Teacher of the year
2001 National Science Teachers Association Distinguished Teaching Award
2002 – finalist – Iowa Teacher of the year; Christa McAuliffe Fellowship; USA TODAY First-Teacher Award; Governor’s Environmental Excellence Award
2003 Fullbright Memorial Fund Master Teacher Program; Runner-up – Iowa Teacher of the Year
2004 Fullbright Memorial Fund Master Teacher Program; Disney Hand Educator Award