Easton science teacher surprised by $25,000 national award

EASTON – A fifth-grader offered one good explanation Wednesday why science teacher Vaughn A. Martin won a $25,000 national award at his school: “He respects everybody and he makes a lot of stuff fun,” said Luke Fuller of Easton Elementary School.

Martin, 44, teaches third through sixth grades and was surprised with a Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award. The awards were created in 1985 to reward and encourage people who teach. Two are being presented this fall in Maine. The other not-yet-announced recipient teaches in southern Maine.

Martin said he was shocked when state Education Commissioner J. Duke Albanese read Martin’s name before an assembly of pupils and teachers in the school gymnasium Wednesday.

“Anybody here ever see me speechless before?” Martin asked the group after his name was announced to tumultuous applause.

“I want to thank you. I want to thank this school,” he said. “An award like this can go to anybody. There are so many fantastic teachers around this state.”

Along with the recognition, Martin will be presented with the check for $25,000 at the organization’s annual conference next year in Los Angeles.

Martin graduated in 1980 from the University of Maine with a bachelor’s degree in plant and soil science. He went back to school and in 1986 received a second bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Southern Maine.

After Wednesday’s ceremony, Martin said he took an odd route to becoming a teacher.

After his first graduation, he became a landscaper. But the six months’ downtime each year didn’t work out for him.

“I just got tired of working at McDonald’s and Burger King for [the other] six months. So I went back to college,” he said. “I had no clue what I wanted to do.”

He tried business and he tried graphic arts before someone suggested he consider teaching.

“I took that one course, and this professor was just fantastic,” Martin said. “I thought, ‘This is for me; this is what I want to do.”‘

Martin’s fifth-grade science pupils were happy for their teacher and said he deserved the award.

“He’s really cool,” said Krystle Gadaire. “He does a lot of things with us.”

Samantha Philbrook also described Martin as a cool teacher, adding “He teaches science very well.”

Superintendent Frank Keenan said Martin is one of the most popular teachers at the school.

“He brings an energy and creativity to science that makes all the kids love his class,” Keenan said during an interview before Wednesday’s ceremony.

He said Martin has his pupils plant flowers and gardens around the school and that he takes class field trips to nearby woods to study ecology and ecosystems.

“He’s the kind of teacher who, 10 years after [the pupils] leave and they come back, he’s one of the first they seek out,” said Keenan. “He challenged them; he pushed them.”

In addition to the Milken award, Martin also has received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and has been a Teacher of the Year nominee.

“Teachers often don’t get the recognition they need in public,” said Mariano Guzman, the representative of the Milken Family board of trustees. “We believe [teaching] is an awesome responsibility.”