Jim Cherry becomes Einstein Fellow

 

Jim Cherry, a chemistry teacher at Enrico Fermi High School, Enfield, CT, has retired to enter a new role in chemistry.  He has spent 35 years as a science teacher, 33 at Fermi High, and now, starting in September, will be in Washington, DC, as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator.  He will be one of 12 Einstein fellows from the US, and the first from Connecticut, who will help to provide practical insight and increasing understanding among the legislative and executive branches of government and the science, mathematics, and technology education communities.  Since 1990, more than 70 elementary and secondary school teachers have spent a school year as Einstein educators; Cherry was recruited to apply for the program after winning a national award for his work as a chemistry teacher in 2000.  He has also been involved in local politics, and finds the combination of politics and education appealing. Cherry, 57, graduated from Central CT State University with a degree in chemistry.