State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Announces 2025 California Finalists in Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond honored five outstanding math and science teachers from California today who are finalists for the 2025 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

“I extend my heartfelt congratulations to these educators, whom we celebrate for their leadership and innovative teaching and the inspiration they provide to a new generation of learners in science, technology, engineering, and math,” Thurmond said. “These individuals exemplify the highest standards in preparing California students to meet the opportunities and challenges of the future.”

The National Science Foundation administers the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) on behalf of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The PAEMST is the highest honor bestowed by the US government specifically for kindergarten through grade twelve science, mathematics, engineering, and computer science teaching. For 2024–25, those who teach grades seven through twelve were eligible to apply for the PAEMST. Presidential Award recipients are honored at a ceremony in Washington, DC.

Awards are given to teachers who teach science, technology, engineering, mathematics, or computer science from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Department of Defense schools, and four US territories (as a group).

The California Department of Education (CDE) partners with the California Mathematics Council and the California Association of Science Educators to recruit and select nominees for the PAEMST program. Each applicant must display subject mastery, appropriate use of instructional methods and strategies, lifelong learning, and leadership in education outside the classroom. Each candidate is required to submit a 30-minute video lesson in support of their application.

Math Finalists

Jennifer Ruder, Menifee Valley Middle School, Menifee Union School District, Menifee (Sixth Through Eighth Grades)

Jennifer has been teaching for 16 years and currently teaches Math 8 and Compacted Math 8. She is a Math Lead for her school, which has enabled her to work closely with colleagues to vertically align academic language, instructional practices, and tasks used in the classroom. Jennifer was an induction coach for her school and district and previously was a math coach for the whole school district. Jennifer’s classroom is dynamic and interactive and focuses on student discourse. The lesson Jennifer taught was on solving pairs of simultaneous linear equations.

Scott Yakubovsky, Auburndale Intermediate School, Corona Norco Unified School District, Corona (Seventh and Eighth Grades)

Scott has been teaching for 14 years and currently teaches Math 7 Academy, Accelerated Math 7, and Integrated Math 1. He is the department chair at his school and has previously been an instructional coach for his school district. Scott has developed a peer-to-peer leadership mentor program that empowers grade eight students to support grade seven students in their transition to middle school. He was the school’s Math Field Day coordinator and co-developed a Summer Math Camp. Scott has spoken at the California Math Conference as well as for school districts and colleges in California. The lesson Scott taught was on using visual models to represent and solve equations.

Science Finalists

Jennifer Boyd, Westlake High School, Conejo Valley Unified School District, Westlake Village (Tenth Through Twelfth Grades)

Jennifer has been teaching for 18 years and currently teaches three sections of AP Environmental Science (grades ten through twelve) and two sections of Honors Environmental Field Studies (grades eleven through twelve). She has been the science department chair for the last 10 years. As department chair, she led professional development on modeling, Universal Design for Learning, and equitable grading practices and created learning targets that were vertically aligned with the middle school. As a lead teacher for the California Regional Environmental Education Community network, she has been a presenter at two virtual conferences with participants from all over California. In addition, Jennifer was a main presenter at the California Environmental Literacy Program Summer Institute. She has also provided Nature Journaling workshops for her district’s mental health clinicians. The lesson she taught focused on the role of biodiversity in an ecosystem through the connection between structure and function.

Jacob Mathis, Monte Vista Middle School, San Jacinto Unified School District, San Jacinto (Seventh Grade)

Jacob has been teaching for 15 years and currently teaches five periods of seventh-grade science. Throughout his years of teaching, 13 years have been in the middle school setting. He has taught science, math, and STEM. As science lead for three years, Jacob has mentored new teachers. He has also served on an instructional leadership team, the school site council, and district professional learning communities (PLCs). As a district PLC member, he helped create district formative assessments, common labs, guiding questions, curriculum guides, integrated California Science Test projects, and curriculum that meets the needs of the district’s specific students. The lesson he taught focused on the energy flow within an ecosystem.

Wendy Toro, Artesia High School, ABC Unified School District, Lakewood (Tenth Through Twelfth Grades)

Wendy has been teaching for five years and currently teaches Physics (grades 11–12), Chemistry (grades 10–12), and AP Chemistry. Each summer, she partners with organizations like the American Association of Immunologists and Futurelab+ to enrich her science curriculum. Wendy mentors aspiring STEM educators through the Cerritos College Teacher Training Academy and serves as a Teacher Leader for the ABC Federation of Teachers Union. She is also researching the impact of the pandemic on students’ social–emotional well-being and academics. Wendy has led sessions at conferences such as the California Association of Science Educators and copresented at the National Association of Biology Teachers conference, sharing her lesson on substance structure developed from her summer research in Baltimore.

For more information, please visit the CDE PAEMST web page or the PAEMST website .

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Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100