I am thrilled to be the STEM teacher at Mills Park Elementary for the 2022-2023 school year. After teaching grades 2 through 5 as a homeroom teacher and STEM for the past 22 years, I am excited to continue teaching Mills Park's students as a STEM specialist. It will be invigorating to streamline STEM ideas to our students' existing science, math, social studies, and language arts curriculum. My mission is to work closely with students and teachers to meet the learning needs and STEM ponderings of our Mills Park Panthers! -Shirley Pyon

A Little About Me:

• Raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina

• Attended UNC-Chapel Hill for Undergraduate (2000) and Master's (2007) Degrees in Elementary and Mathematics Education

• National Board Certified Teacher, Early Childhood Generalist (2006, 2016)

• Teaching History: Chapel Hill- Carrboro City Schools, The American School of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and Mills Park Elementary School

• Loves learning and teaching, her sweet family, her dog Molly, and Mills Park Elementary School

Mills Park Elementary School Mission Statement

Mills Park Elementary School will provide a relevant and engaging education and will graduate students who are collaborative, creative, effective communicators and critical thinkers.

Mills Park Elementary School Vision Statement

Mills Park Elementary will be a student-centered, dynamic learning environment that prepares all students to be productive, global citizens in an ever-changing world.

How does Mills Park's Mission and Vision relate to STEM?

The STEM program at MPES will embed the engineering process while encouraging students to be collaborative, creative, effective communicators, and critical thinkers (the 4Cs). Additionally, with the growth of STEM careers outpacing the growth of all non-STEM careers in the U.S., our students will be given learning opportunities that allow them to become more productive and global citizens.