Aug 31, 2017 By Jacob Calvin Meyer 4 min read

Steve Miller is an award-winning teacher, and he has a former student of his to thank, along with the merits of his teaching, of course.

Miller, a math and computer science teacher at Upper St. Clair High School, was recently named one of the four finalists from Pennsylvania for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

To be considered for the award, Michael Nastac, a 2016 USC graduate, nominated Miller because he was “honored to have been his student.”

“Upper St. Clair is a very good school district, and I’ve had a lot of really good teachers over the years. I would say he was one of the best teachers I’ve ever had,” said Nastac, who just finished his freshman year as a physics major at the University of Maryland in College Park. “Even compared to teachers I’ve had in college, he’s definitely still one of the best.”

Miller, who just began his 14th year teaching at USC, said Nastac nominating him for the award means more to him than the award itself.

“Whatever happens with the award, just to know that a student valued an experience enough in my class to consider me to be worthy to be nominated,” Miller said. “It was really great for me and humbling and honoring for me. The rest was kind of just gravy to that.”

Miller’s application is now being evaluated by scientists, mathematicians and educators at the National Science Foundation for the award.

Two educators from each state, plus Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, U.S. Territories and the Department of Defense Education Activity schools, will receive awards. The winner receives a certificate signed by President Trump, a trip to Washington D.C. for recognition and professional development opportunities and $10,000 from the National Science Foundation.

After Nastac nominated, Miller completed the application process, which included a video of a lesson and personal reflection. Then the state chooses up to five teachers in both the science and math categories, one of which is currently Miller, before the number dwindles down to one for each category in each state. The decision is likely to be made within the next six months to a year.

Before starting at USC in 2004, Miller was a senior software developer for Carnegie Learning’s Cognitive Tutor program, where he developed and tested mathematics software. Meanwhile, he volunteered at his church’s high school youth group and realized a change in careers would be best for him.

“I really enjoyed working with those kids,” Miller said. “I liked my software development job. I liked the challenges and the problem solving. But I didn’t like the sort of lack of interaction with people and sitting at a desk in front of a computer all day.”

A 1994 graduate of USC, Miller said he didn’t originally envision being a high school teacher, but being one at Upper St. Clair is special.

“It’s neat to kind of get to contribute back to the district that I went through as a student,” Miller said. “That’s been a nice experience for me for sure.”

Miller mostly teaches computer science at USC, but he also teaches an advanced math topics course for seniors who have already taken calculus.

One of Nastac’s favorite memories of Miller as a teacher was being invited as part of the math class to watch the movie “Apollo 13” on a projector in Miller’s backyard. The class had recently finished a project on the Apollo 13 spacecraft, one of several projects Nastac said the class did that Miller came up of completely on his own.

“He didn’t have to make these projects,” Nastac said. “They weren’t part of the curriculum in anyway. He just wanted to do it. I know, especially the Apollo one, they took a lot of time. But he did it because he wanted us to learn.”

The Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching will be announced, Miller said, within the six months to a year. Until then, Miller will just continue teaching the only way he knows how.

“My goal is that students would feel like they came away out of my class with something valuable that they can apply in their own lives,” Miller said. “(Or with something) that will advance their abilities as they go into future studies in whatever fields they’re looking for, or even if they just found interest in something they didn’t expect to find interest in.”