Five teachers from Catholic schools honored with Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award

Mary Beth Akers has a goal for each of her students by the time they graduate eighth grade: that they are not afraid of math.

“I try really hard to make math make sense,” she said. “And I love those light bulbs — I love it when they figure it out.”

On a recent Tuesday morning, Akers pulled out a deck of cards during a lesson on adding positive and negative integers with her advanced seventh grade class. Black cards are positive and red ones are negative, she told the students, holding up two at a time as she talked through strategies for dealing with both kinds in equations.

Across her basic and advanced level math courses for sixth, seventh and eighth graders at Sacred Heart School in Florissant, Akers is always looking for ways to help students understand math concepts in a way that will work for them.

“I am very much not a teacher that says, ‘this is the way you have to do it,’” she said. “I try to help you figure out what’s going to work for you.”

Akers is one of five teachers from Catholic elementary and high schools in the St. Louis area who are among more than 100 educators honored with an Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award this year. The annual award recognizes classroom instructors, selected by their schools’ administrators, for their accomplishments and dedication to their students and the teaching profession.

The Excellence in Teaching Awards program began in St. Louis in 1989 and is sponsored annually by Emerson, the St. Louis-headquarted global technology and engineering company.

“Mrs. Akers is one of the finest teachers of math I have been around in my 25 years of education,” principal Chris Masterson wrote in his nomination of Akers. “…She has the ability to recognize the needs of her students quickly with great precision and is able to develop the instructional processes needed to address those needs.”

Now in her fifth year at Sacred Heart School, Akers has spent her entire teaching career in north St. Louis County Catholic schools, beginning in 1987 at Our Lady of Good Counsel School, then continuing at Pope John Paul II School and Christ Light of the Nations School, which closed in 2020. Akers grew up in Normandy and attended St. Ann School and Rosati-Kain High School before earning her bachelor’s degree in elementary education at Benedictine College.

Math and faith go hand-in-hand, said Akers, now a parishioner at St. Cletus in St. Charles. Often, students will ask who “invented” mathematical rules like the Pythagorean theorem. “Well, (mathematicians) didn’t come up with it; they looked at nature and saw that all of it is very ordered,” created intricately by God, Akers tells them.

Math “is everywhere; you can’t avoid it,” she added. “And I try to get my kids to see that.”

Derio Gambaro | Social studies, Chaminade College Preparatory School

Eighth grade social studies teacher Derio Gambaro is an example of the school’s motto, “Esto Vir,” to be the man the world needs, associate principal for mission and instruction Brett Desnoyer wrote in Gambaro’s nomination.

“He is a classroom and school leader; he exhibits outstanding judgment and character; he is empathetic and caring to students and colleagues alike,” Desnoyer wrote.

Gambaro also serves as a dean in the school’s house system, which groups students into small family-like communities, and he coaches middle school and high school football and lacrosse. Every year, he leads the eighth grade class on a trip to Washington, D.C., and he coordinates an exchange program with a school in England.

Stacey Neal | Math and technology department chair, Saint Louis Priory School

Stacey Neal’s passion is Honors Geometry, but she is also committed to connecting with students who are anxious about math and breaking down complex problems — all without sacrificing intellectual rigor, assistant head of school for intellectual formation Tim Malacek wrote in his nomination of Neal.

“Perhaps best described as a warm demander, she holds all of her students to high standards of accuracy and precision while simultaneously providing continual encouragement and support,” Malacek said. “Upon entering her room, it’s immediately obvious that she’s established a culture of excellence where learning is valued.”

In addition to teaching Algebra I, Geometry and AP Statistics, Neal serves as chair of the math and technology department and is a member of the school’s admissions committee. She is in her seventh year at Saint Louis Priory.

Alexandra Pfahler | Spanish, St. Dominic High School

Alexandra Pfahler loves the Spanish language and brings her passion for it into the classroom through immersion.

“Mrs. Pfahler uses best practices in student engagement to give students opportunities to excel in speaking, listening, reading and writing the language. Her intentionality in the curriculum and the amount of language that her students are exposed to makes her rise above the rest,” principal Stacy Stewart wrote in her nomination.

Pfahler is in her fifth year at St. Dominic High School, where she teaches Honors Spanish 3, 4 and 5 to juniors and seniors. Pfahler leads the members of the World Language Department in preparing students for the Seal of Biliteracy test, and the percent of students earning the level of distinction on the national test has risen under her leadership, Stewart noted. She is also part of the school leadership team working to improve culture, academics and community, and she accompanied 15 students on a mission trip to serve at a Catholic Charities respite center in McAllen, Texas.

Emily Schmitz | Grades 7-8 ELA and social studies, St. Francis of Assisi School

As an English-Language Arts and social studies teacher for grades seven and eight, Emily Schmitz “brings a love of learning and passion for growth to her middle school students in so many ways,” principal Beth Bartolotta wrote.

Through the formation of “studios,” Schmitz helps students to work in leveled small groups on a variety of projects. She integrates ELA and social studies to complement each other through read-alouds and project-based learning. She took extra time to become trained in LETRS to better assist students who were below their grade’s reading level.

Schmitz, in her fifth year at St. Francis of Assisi, has also assisted the archdiocese in a summer workshop on curriculum mapping and serves as a mentor to other teachers.