James Bryant Conant Award in High School Chemistry Teaching

Gwendolyn S. Marbury, a chemistry teacher at the all-boys DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Md., doesn't like to talk about herself. Never mind that she received the Chemical Society of Washington's Leo Schubert Award for outstanding teaching of high school chemistry in 2005. Or that she was selected by students to receive DeMatha's Father James Day Award in 2004. Those awards aren't even on her r??sum??. She much prefers to remain behind-the-scenes.

Marbury, 53, may not be able to hide behind the scenes much longer. She is the 2006 recipient of the James Bryant Conant Award in High School Chemistry Teaching.

Marbury is "incredibly honored" at receiving the award, which she thinks has been good for her students, too. "Chemistry doesn't seem so abstract to them," she says. "It's been nice for them to see that there are rewards."

Inspired by the passion of her own "fantastic" high school chemistry teacher, Edward Jones, Marbury received a B.A. in chemistry from Talladega College, in Alabama, in 1974. She has received two M.S. degrees, one from Howard University, Washington, D.C. (1985), and the other from Catholic University, also in Washington (1989).

Marbury didn't make an immediate entrance into teaching because she didn't think her personality was outgoing enough. "The lab was a great place to hide out," she says. Instead, Marbury spent more than 20 years working in research chemistry.

But a little voice in the back of her head kept nagging her to teach. Then an external voice from friend and fellow ACS member Diane Bunce nagged her a little more loudly. "She teaches chemical education, so maybe she saw something I didn't see," says Marbury. In 1995, Marbury finally made the switch and took a teaching position at DeMatha.

Switching from industry to teaching wasn't easy at first for the introverted Marbury. "I had to learn to be outgoing really fast," she says. But she has embraced her teaching role heartily. She uses her enthusiasm for chemistry and "old war stories" from her lab days to get her students interested in chemistry as well.

In 2002, Marbury took her love of the lab and worked with department chair Ralph E. Reeves Jr. to create a lab manual better suited for her students. She also helped start an exchange program with chemistry students near Vienna, Austria. Marbury and Reeves met Georg Pestal of Bundesgymnasium Klosterneuburg at an ACS High School Chemistry Day in Washington, D.C. He expressed interest in starting an exchange program between the schools. Marbury worked with the exchange students during their visit to DeMatha in 2003. In 2004, she and students from DeMatha spent a week in Austria.

When graduating seniors at DeMatha are asked if there is a teacher who made a lasting impact on them, Marbury's name frequently comes up. Students have made comments such as: "You could tell that she went two extra miles to ensure that we understood the material. Ms. Marbury sincerely believed that each one of her students was a success story waiting to happen." Many have commented that she was like a second mother.

"Probably since I have no children, working with them is particularly gratifying to me," Marbury says of her students. "I very much enjoy sharing in their accomplishments and offering support in less favorable moments."

The award address will be presented before the Division of Chemical Education.-Rachel Pepling