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This science teacher has done the math: 150 students times 12 years in three different states.

That's the number of students -- 1,800 -- Julie Pepperman has taught over her career, including one year in Maryville. Students she hopes got tuned in. Some who will maybe take what they learned and further it into rewarding careers years down the road.

Earlier last month, it was Pepperman's turn to be rewarded. She spent a week in Washington, D.C. as a national winner of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. She is an eighth grade teacher at Bearden Middle School who resides in Maryville with husband Fred and their four daughters.

Award winners

One math and one science winner were selected from each state and U.S. territories. This is the highest award given to a math or science teacher, and teachers can win the award only once.

The week in Washington, D.C. could be summed up in one word -- awesome.

"The most awesome night was the dinner at the State Department," Pepperman said. "There was Thomas Jefferson's desk and the original Treaty of Paris. Martha Washington's lounge was four rooms of antique furniture from her living room."

Security was very tight. Getting to see things most visitors don't was something Pepperman will always treasure.

Pepperman said she had not been to the nation's capital since she was 15, and her husband, who accompanied her, had never been. The Presidential Award winners got a private tour of the White House and met Vice President Dick Cheney. They even had meetings with various department heads from NASA, Homeland Security and the Department of Education.

But the people who made Pepperman feel most special were Sen. Lamar Alexander and Rep. John Duncan. Pepperman said Duncan took her and Fred to lunch at the Members Only Club on the Senate floor and spent almost two hours with them.

"What made it really special was the fact he is the representative from not only where I live but where I work," this teacher said. "And of course Sen. Alexander was just thrilled that I was from Maryville."

Alexander is a native Maryvillian.

Miles to go

Pepperman talked excitedly but humbly about the award and week in Washington. Ironically, when reached by cell phone, she was in Washington yet again. This was her second visit there in a matter of a few weeks. She was there last week with 25 students from Knoxville who were competing at the Science Olympiad, a national organization dedicated to improving the quality of K-12 science education. Students from all across the country were there to compete.

She has no plans to slow down this summer. The state of Tennessee asked Pepperman to serve as a trainer this summer to help math and science teachers understand the newly adopted curriculum. She will be doing that in Knox County, Crossville and Blountville.

Long process

It was an 18-month long process to go from being nominated for the Presidential Award to finally being selected. The state narrowed down the pool of science teachers to two after receiving 2,000 nominations from across the state. Then the federal government picked Pepperman.

She is the first science teacher from Bearden Middle to receive the award and only the fourth teacher ever for Knox County.

As part of the reward, Pepperman received $10,000. She bought a laptop and is looking at equipment for the classroom.

She has also made friends of some of the other Presidential Award winners from other states. That is a unique opportunity because much time is spent in the classroom and not with other educators.

"Every state was represented and the Virgin Islands," Pepperman said. "I got to meet them and hear their ideas. We've started an e-mail chain."

Louisiana, Alabama and Tennessee -- the three states in which Pepperman has taught. Her seventh grade science teacher in New Orleans is responsible for sparking an interest in the field. Pepperman knows teachers can have great impact.

"If you think about how busy everyone is in the afternoons, sometimes the person that a child spends the most time with during the day is a teacher," Pepperman said.