LAS CRUCES – Desert Hills Elementary School kindergarten teacher Michelle Estrada has received a 2010 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

Estrada, who has been a kindergarten teacher at Desert Hills Elementary for six years, received the award from President Barack Obama in the White House on May 20. She is one of 85 teachers nationwide who received the 2010 award, and the only New Mexico teacher honored.
 

Winners receive a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation to be used at their discretion.
“The teachers we honor today have demonstrated uncommon skill and devotion in the classroom, nurturing the young minds of tomorrow’s science and math leaders,” said President Obama.

Estrada was the LCPS 2011 Teacher of the Year. In 2008, she was named Sam’s Club of Las Cruces Teacher of the Year.

In 2009, Estrada received a $10,000 Toyota Tapestry grant from Toyota for her project entitled “Rio Grande and its Grand Importance.” The grant helped her students participate in a year-long study of the Rio Grande.