Ms. Nimmi wins 2019 CSTA Excellence in Teaching Award

Ms.+Nimmi+%28second+from+left%29+receives+her+Teaching+Excellence+Award+at+the+CSTA+conference+in+July.+

Ms. Nimmi (second from left) receives her Teaching Excellence Award at the CSTA conference in July.

The Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) presented Ms. Nirmala (“Miss Nimmi”) Arunachalam, Olympic Heights Engineering Academy instructor, with a 2019 Teaching Excellence Award at the organization’s annual conference held this past July in Phoenix, Arz.

On its website introducing the award winners, the CSTA states what all of OH already knows: “Nimmi Arunachalam is an accomplished and passionate educator with a deep commitment to STEM education.” The CSTA also makes note of Ms. Nimmi as a “strong advocate for girls in engineering and computer science; she significantly increased the enrollment of girls in her school’s engineering academy.”

The CSTA goes on to inform that Ms. Nimmi “was instrumental in establishing a computer science pathway of four courses at Olympic Heights High School…consisting of AP Computer Science Principles, AP Computer Science A, AICE Computer Science, and Cybersecurity.

“She has also transformed her students’ classroom experience by applying academic skills in competitive environments at the regional and national levels. Her students have competed successfully in SECME (Science, Engineering, Communication, Mathematics, Enrichment), CyberPatriot, Congressional App Challenge, ZeroRobotics, Student Astronaut Challenge, Intel Science Fair, and Google Science Fair.”

As part of the award, Ms. Nimmi received a $5,000 stipend and had all expenses for her trip to the conference paid for.