Robbinsville – David Matheson had the entire scenario planned to perfection.
Representatives from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund arrived right on-schedule, including a two-man film crew. Local media and two students with the Robbinsville High School Yearbook stood by, eagerly anticipating the moment of reveal.
Two days earlier, Matheson had given The Graham Star the scoop: high school STEM teacher Ben Davis had been awarded a $175,000 grant from the Burroughs fund. The surprise reveal was to take place while Davis had students in his classroom for second block March 9.
As one other teacher stepped into the hallway out of sheer curiosity, the welcome party reached Davis’ classroom. Matheson was all smiles until he opened the door – and then his smile only grew.
“Oh my goodness,” the Robbinsville High School principal said. “He’s not in here.”
Quick on his feet, assistant superintendent Robert Moody – who was also present for the festivities – jumped into action, calling Davis.
His whereabouts could not have been better suited for the moment.
“You’re not going to believe this,” Matheson began, “he’s on the practice football field with his class, launching model rockets.”
How appropriate.
Moody went ahead of the paparazzi and found Davis. Ben’s wife Amber and 9-year-old daughter Charlotte hid behind the corner of the fieldhouse – they had just found out 20 minutes prior about the grant award and left Robbinsville Elementary School in quite the hurry to join the moment.
When Davis rounded the corner and saw the well-wishes there to document the monumental occasion, he too broke out in a wide smile.
True, $175,000 can do that to a person. But to understand the journey to the grant is germane to understanding Davis’ excitement in that moment.
Burroughs Wellcome Fund Senior Communications Officer Alfred Mays asked Davis if the stunned teacher recognized him.
“I don’t recognize the rest of these guys,” Davis said while smiling at the documentary crew, “but I certainly remember you.”
Elite CAST
A private, independent foundation based in Research Triangle Park, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund explains its mission on its website, bwfund.org: to serve and strengthen society by nurturing a diverse group of leaders in biomedical sciences, to improve human health through education and powering discovery in frontiers of greatest need.
Every two years, the fund receives applications for its Career Award for STEM Teachers (CAST) from across North Carolina, narrows the field down to eight and then invites each finalist to Durham for a brief presentation about why they should be selected.
A lot of pressure, but $175,000 is worth the drive.
Over the last decade, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) has really emerged as a fun and all-encompassing way to learn about several academic subjects. The fund looks to award instructors who have made a significant impact – not just in the classroom, but within their school district and their communities as a whole.
Ironically enough, it was exactly 10 years ago that Davis began applying for the award, which is distributed over a 5-year period. His 2022 application was attempt No. 3.
“The grant application consists of a large plan of work – mine was nine pages – where you explain your project in detail, and the impact it will have on your students, teachers, and the district,” Davis explained. “They also require a detailed budget, letters of recommendation from the principal and the superintendent. I also had to send in a detailed lesson plan covering a 4-lesson unit, complete with student work samples. All in-all, this application was about 25 pages and took probably 30-40 hours outside of the school day to put together.”
Davis submitted his latest pitch in September and waited three months to find out he was a finalist. Under stringent guidelines – each finalist gets nine minutes for their presentation and can present a maximum of five PowerPoint slides, for example – Davis assembled his best attempt to date.
Feb. 9, he stood before a panel to explain why he – nay, the Robbinsville High School STEM program – should receive the six-figure grant.
“I think my application this year was chosen for the final eight because I had a great plan (better than in previous years),” Davis said. “This year’s application was focused on environmental education. Graham County is also an underserved population – we are at least an hour’s bus ride from the nearest state university. Our location puts our students at a disadvantage for having a lot of the opportunities that students in other areas have; I made sure to highlight this in my presentation. Our students are bright and capable, but they’re at a disadvantage when it comes to their location.”
Family tradition
A 2000 graduate of Robbinsville High, Davis has education in his blood.
His parents are Rick and Sara Davis. Rick was a science teacher and later Graham County Schools Superintendent; Sara taught music at Robbinsville Elementary School.
Davis graduated from N.C. State University with a bachelor’s in microbiology and later obtained a master’s in microbial biotechnology.
Davis and his wife Amber Cody – whom he wed in 2005 – found their way back to Graham County in 2007, when Davis applied for an opening at Robbinsville Middle School. He moved to the high school in 2012.
“My grandfather, uncle and a bunch of cousins have also been teachers in various roles,” Davis added. “My dad is a great grant writer and has been responsible for literally millions of dollars of funding for the county over the years, so he’s been a big help.”
Applying for this grant was not a new endeavor for Davis, either: he previously obtained $120,000 from the Burroughs fund in 2017, for an after-school program at Robbinsville Middle. Dubbed “SciGirls,” the grant specifically focuses on middle-school girls interested in science as a career.
Big plans
Davis found himself checking his phone constantly – day and night – hoping for the good news.
The big reveal exactly one month after his Durham presentation might have ended up with a humorous wrinkle, but long after the documentary team, local media and even students departed from the whirlwind of excitement, there remained one constant emotion.
Joy.
“I didn’t stop smiling all day,” Davis said. “It is really cool to see a lot of hard work and years pay off.”
Davis can now lay claim to securing $300,000 in total for local STEM classes from the Burroughs fund. And just in case there was any doubt, preliminary uses for the $175,000 are already penciled in.
“In the first year, we’re going to revamp the pavilion above the old baseball field on the Robbinsville Elementary School campus into a true outdoor classroom, with plenty of seating, a whiteboard, storage, etc.,” said Davis. “We’re also going to add an activity class called Project WILD for 4th-grade students. We will use a nationally-recognized curriculum that focuses on outdoor education as part of the class.
“Because this award is so big ($10,000 a year for equipment and materials, $10,000 a year for professional development and training), the plan is to share funds with all the science teachers in grades 5-12 in the district, after we get the outdoor classroom finished.
“Teachers will be able to purchase materials for their classrooms, do field trips and travel to any kind of training they want. Sharing the funds will make sure that we reach hundreds of students each year, both in teacher training and classroom materials.
Davis was 1-of-3 teachers in Western North Carolina who received the award. The other three winners were Leslie Rhinehart (Polk County Schools/Polk County Middle School); Thomas Savage (Henderson County Public Schools/Henderson County Early College); and Andrea Gladden (Burke County Public Schools/East Burke Middle School).