Animal skulls adorn the shelves.  Beautiful birds of prey hang suspended. A  turtle creeps along in its cage. And students eagerly enter the room.

This is Mrs. Wendy Smith’s classroom. Mrs. Smith recently won the DuPont Pioneer Award from National Science Teachers Association for using agricultural topics in a science classroom. She received award March 14.

As part of this award Smith received $1,000 to travel to Atlanta for the NSTA banquet, along with a $2,500 bonus for her classroom. She also gets “mentoring” from DuPont on her classroom projects for the following year.

Mrs. Smith has become a favorite teacher of students over the years.

“It’s no surprise to me that Mrs. Smith has won this award. Many of her students including myself look forward to walk into her classroom each and every day,” said senior Stephen Preator. “From goofing off in her class to learning the different environmental issues, Mrs. Smith is a wonderful individual and definitely deserved this award for time and effort she gives us for our education.”

Mrs. Smith has also gained recognition from her peers.

“It’s well deserved and she’s a very experienced teacher and does a lot of hands-on field trips and activities with her students, which is what teaching science should be all about; being out in nature.” science teacher  Mrs. Lenita Moore said.

Her Environmental Science and Natural Resource classes are high in demand and known for their numerous field trips including ones down Yellowstone National park and the South Fork.

After receiving the award Mrs. Smith wasted no time putting her new knowledge and resources to work.

“I’m looking at biotech and bioengineering for a plant genetics unit,” said  Mrs.Smith. “We might have vertical growing towers out there (gestures toward breakout) if it gets approved.”