HEUVELTON The sounds emanating from Heuvelton High School classroom 218 may sound unfamiliar, or even strange to some visitors of the little district school. Anytime of the day, before school, after school, during school, even during the lunch period, the sounds most commonly heard from Donna Kennedy's math and computer science class

room is that of laughter, students enjoying themselves and the refreshing sounds of students actually having fun in school. And despite what first impressions you may have, the bottom line is that Kennedy's students do very well in math and, more importantly,-most do much better in life for having had her as a teacher. In addition to the crowds of happy people you are just as likely to see Kennedy sitting face-to-face with a student having trouble at home or with self esteem. There's a lot more to Donna Kennedy's math class than just math!

Kennedy, who has taught at Heuvelton Central for six years, has been selected as a state finalist for the Presidential Award of Excellence in Mathematics and Science. She

is one of only three state finalists. The teacher who is selected as the New York State winner will visit Washington DC for dinner with President George W Bush and will receive a cash award of $7,500. State winners are awarded $750.

Kennedy said that there's a lot of work in making out the application after a teacher has been nominated "I was honored to be nominated. Like many I tossed the application aside and didn't give it another thought for several weeks. I'm working with about 17 other teachers in Albany writing a state book on how teachers can teach to better incorporate the state standard into their classroom programs. The people that I write with in Albany suggested that I send in the application, so I did," said Kennedy.

The application needed to be accompanied by a resume, photos, letters of recommendation, including one from a student, and lots of essays. "I started the application process on a Friday night looking at a postmark deadline on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. After computer problems and a variety of other slowdowns, I finally finished, just in time for the deadline. I was honored to be selected as a finalist," she said.

Donna and her husband, Robert, a science teacher at Heuvelton, have two children, Chad, 15, and Katie, 13, and reside in Canton. The couple have also been foster parents for the past 15 years.

Kennedy said that her favorite statement from any student is, "don't tell us class is over already," and she hears it quite often. "We've done a lot of research on just what it is that makes kids learn. We discovered that the first 20 minutes of class time are the best for kids to learn. So anything new is best handled quickly"

Kennedy is also a firm believer in cooperative, or group, learning. " Groups work well together. They teach each other. We have a great time. The bottom line is that I'm teaching kids to love to learn, which comes before some of the complicated math classes. In my classroom, we also discuss current events, history, whatever is on the kids minds. It's actually the students who are a big part of the success of the classroom. It's a classic r situation, they teach each other," said Kennedy.

The fact that the New York State Regents scores in her classes are, in general, higher than the average scores of other senior high school math Regents scores in the area, speaks volumes of her ability to teach her students what they need to know. New York state's highest category to judge a class or group of students is "mastery", which is the number of students scoring 85 percent or higher on the Regents exams. The state looks for 17 percent. Heuvelton, which has a higher standard, looks for 30 percent. Kennedy's classes have a mastery level of 65 percent. She said that 14 of her 19 students in one Regents scored 90 or higher.

Mary Duval, a senior at Heuvelton Central, says that Kennedy has made a huge difference in her life. "Last year I found myself spending all my free time in her classroom, and I wasn't alone. There's always students in Mrs. Kennedy's room, doing homework, getting extra help, studying, or just hanging out. By the time I got to her class last year I had pretty much given up on math. But she motivated me. She was always there for me. One day she asked me to go to guidance and check my class rank. I was ranked fourth. I couldn't believe it. I'm still ranked fourth and I'm doing whatever I can to hang on to that ranking. It means a lot to me," said Duval, who was just stopping by Kennedy's classroom after school on Monday.

"Last year at the beginning of the year I was getting 70s in math. After I got into Mrs. Kennedy's class I was getting 90s and scored a 93 on the Regents," said Duval, who added, "you don't just come out of her class a better math student, you come out a better person."

Kennedy said that she has an open door policy in her classroom. "Any student can come in at any time. I am fortunate enough to have three St. Lawrence University students, one student teacher and two student scholars, helping us out. For example I have a senior student this year, James Caruso, who spends all his free time in my classroom. During one of my classes I did a logic game with candy necklaces, which are the ultimate prize, as the reward. I turned and saw James going from group to group checking results."

Kennedy said she had another group of students search the internet for the largest prime number. A call from the office secretary stopped that exercise after 42 out of 467 pages of digits had been printed."

The fact that there are 12 seniors enrolled in the advanced placement (AP) calculus class, taught by Kennedy, which is about one quarter of the senior class, says a lot about her teaching

abilities. As is always the case though her thoughts go much deeper than the numbers that she's paid to teach. "If you have one year to teach one kid one thing... what would it be? I ask myself that question a lot. Would it be algebra or something fun? The answer is really quite easy. Remember, you've got to teach them to love to learn first."

Kennedy should hear whether she was selected for the Presidential Award early in the new year. One thing is for sure. She's already a winner with her 9th-12th grade students.