Potato Head: Mrs. Danielle Dubno-Hammer

This week’s Potato Head was given to an intelligent member of the IHPCH staff. Mrs. Danielle Dubno-Hammer was interviewed by IHPCH Voices about receiving the Potato Head and how she feels about it. Read her responses below. We hope you enjoy!

IHPCH Voices: Who did you receive the Potato Head from?

Mrs. Dubno-Hammer: Mr. Robinson

IHPCH Voices: Why did Mr. Robinson give you the Potato Head?

Mrs. Dubno-Hammer: [Robinson] said that it was for being nominated for an award called the PAEMST Award, which is a Presidential award that’s given to teachers of Math and Science by the United States government; and it’s the highest teaching award a Science teacher can receive, at the National level, from the government. I was nominated by Phyllis Tashlik who is the director of the Consortium of Schools that we’re a part of, and I applied and I recently found out that I was a finalist for New York State.  So I have one week to submit some materials and then I’ll find out eventually if I was chosen as one of the two New York State teachers to win the award.

IHPCH Voices: What was your initial reaction to receiving the Potato Head?

Mrs. Dubno-Hammer: At first I was actually a little bit I guess embarrassed I was like “Oh no you didn’t tell everybody did you?” I didn’t really want  people to know just because I’m not one to try to brag about things and I didn’t want to make myself the center of attention so I was a little bit surprised and a little embarrassed but I also felt really good. It felt good to be recognized; some of the staff members congratulated me…it did feel good.

We congratulate Ms. Danielle!  We are glad that your work behind the scenes is being recognized.