Growing up, Michelle Bagley aspired to become an actress yet also had a interest in the sciences. She went on to combine the two, ultimately becoming a Centennial High School science teacher who considers her classroom a stage, inspiring students in a sometimes unpopular subject.
The New York-based Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation took notice. The independent federal agency established by Congress to support and encourage discovery is giving Bagley its Life Sciences Award.
Bagley, 54, who has taught for 30 years (the past 19 at Centennial), was one of three educators who won $10,000 awards for teaching methods leading to student proficiency in the College Board's Advanced Placement life science courses.
She will receive the award this month in Washington.
"After 30 years of teaching, for somebody to say that you've done a great job, that's great," said Bagley. "You get it from kids all the time. But to get positive feedback from an outside organization that recognizes that what you do has an impact on students, I'm just very pleased."
A biology and research teacher, Bagley works with students in Centennial's Gifted and Talented Program, and her students have won honors in such contests as the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology and the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
"Michelle is an outstanding teacher," said Penny Zimring, instructional facilitator for Howard County's Gifted and Talented program. "What makes her especially effective is that she's able to culture students to become scholars, where they are actually working toward discovering new knowledge and original solutions to problems."
Bagley has also received recognition when her students have been honored. When Peter I. Kamel was named a U.S. Department of Education Presidential Scholar last year, the Centennial student named Bagley as his most influential teacher. And she received a Coca-Cola Educator of Distinction award last year when Centennial student Henry Zheng was named a Coca-Cola Scholar.
She received an Intel Excellence in Teaching Award in 2001.
But Bagley said the latest honor is her first with a sizable monetary award. She has already designated a use for it.
"I have a sweet daughter that's going to college next year," Bagley said, "and this is going to help pay for her expenses."
Growing up in Flatbush in Brooklyn, N.Y., Bagley considered becoming an actress as late as high school and for a few years chased her dream by performing on stage and in television. She worked off-Broadway and landed a spot in a Comet cleanser commercial.
But Bagley came to realize that she wouldn't make a career in acting. Instead she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with undergraduate and graduate degrees in biology and education.
Still, she continues to perform in local drama.
"It's now just a hobby," Bagley said. "You get enough rejection to realize that you're not as talented as you thought you were. But my mom said, 'Always have a backup plan,' and teaching is a good way to use your acting skills."
Bagley says she looks for ways to make science more engaging to young people. Working in middle school to capture tweens' attention prepared her for her current job.
She said she was once offered an office job in the school system, but getting young people excited about the sciences with what she calls her "performances" has been too rewarding to put aside.
"Every high school teacher should go to middle school for a year or more," she said. "There, it's about getting them excited about science and the learning process, and not so much about content.
"I pride myself on my relationship with my kids," she said. "I keep a Facebook page where alumni keep me informed as to how they're doing. As teachers preparing them for HSA and AP tests, sometimes we lose sight of the fact that they're still kids."