Cape High's Evick honored by biotech industry

Cape High teacher Carrie Evick keeps her students on their toes.

The ninth-grade biology and anatomy and physiology teacher likes to engage her students, and hands-on activity is a great motivator, she says.

“I think they like the hands-on when they can dissect things,” she said, during a break in between anatomy and physiology classes.

Students in the elective class were getting their share of hands on knowledge April 20 while dissecting a sheep's heart.

A diagram projected at the front of the room showed the primary ventricles and valves that pump blood throughout a living sheep. Evick passed out five packaged and preserved hearts to students who split into groups of three to explore the four-chambered organ which is similar to a human's.

“I let them ask questions,” she said. “It's an exploratory part.”

Evick roamed the room telling some students to trim off fatty areas to find the valves and blood vessels while showing others the difference between the left and right sides of the organ.

“Fat around the heart will identify vessels,” she said.

Evick's interactive teaching style has won her recognition from her peers and industry groups.

On April 26, Evick and four other public school teachers were honored by Delaware Bio as educators of the year.

Delaware Bio is a group of bioscience groups and businesses that includes AstraZeneca, Incyte and W.L. Gore & Associates.

Evick said she was nominated by the Delaware Department of Education for her work helping develop Next Generation Science Standards for Delaware students. Teachers Chris Havrilla of Woodbridge, Brian Heeney of Delcastle Technical High School and Rachael Smith of Hodgson Vocational Technical High School, both New Castle County schools, also were honored for their work with the Next Generation Science Standards.

Cape Henlopen Superintendent Robert Fulton said Evick deserves the recognition.

“We are very proud of Ms. Evick and this accomplishment. She is an asset to CHHS and our entire district,” he said.

Attending the Annual Award Gala at the DuPont County Club in Wilmington was a great experience, Evick said. She met many biotech industry experts, professors and researchers who are working on cutting-edge technologies for their firms.

“I got to sit with CEOs of biotech firms, and it was a big networking event,” she said. “It was a really good time.”