Holly Miller, a sixth-grade science teacher who teaches STEM classes at Riverside Intermediate School in Fishers, won’t spend the 2021-22 school year in the classroom. Instead, she will be in Washington, D.C., helping write legislation promoting STEM education.
Miller was one of 19 K-12 teachers from across the nation selected as a 2021-22 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow. Managed by the U.S. Dept. of Education, the 11-month fellowship is in its 31st year. Fellowship recipients are placed in either a government agency or U.S. Congressional offices to help shape how STEM education is taught in the U.S.
“It’s really remarkable. I’ll get to draft legislation and I will be a consultant,” Miller said in a video played during a recent Hamilton Southeastern School Board meeting. “It will really be hard for me to be out of the classroom because I love kids and I love the job and I love the stuff that we get to do, so I think being around adults all day will be really weird.
“But I’m hopefully that I’ll be able to enact some legislation that really can have some impact and a long-lasting effect on kids.”
Miller is one of two teachers from Hamilton County to be named an Einstein fellow for 2021-22. The other is Kelly Day from Westfield Middle School.
