St. Mary’s Dominican High School science teacher Crissy Giacona has been selected as a Louisiana Science Teachers Association (LSTA) Outstanding Science Teacher of the Year for 2021. She is one of three educators honored with this designation.  The LSTA presents the annual Outstanding Science Teacher of the Year Awards to one science teacher at each level (elementary, middle, and secondary) who has demonstrated exemplary science teaching.

In 2013, the year Giacona joined Dominican’s faculty, she started the school’s robotics programs. To date, Dominican has participated in more than 20 events and competitions that involve FIRST LEGO League (FLL), Vex, and FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC). In 2016 she started Domini-Science Saturday that offers Domini-Science fun to girls in grades fourth to seventh who collaborate with Dominican students and faculty, conducting experiments and exploring the wonders of science.

In one of the letters of recommendation for Giacona, Dominican sophomore Meredith Kononchek wrote, “She is first and foremost an outstanding educator. While some teachers expect their students to understand the material immediately, Mrs. Giacona takes the time to verify that each of her students grasps the new concept before advancing to the next topic.  She masterfully does this by incorporating humor in her employment of both visual and tactile aids to ensure that each student is actively engaged in the lesson. Equally important is her unbridled enthusiasm for ‘all things robotic’ as moderator of the Robotics teams.”

The LSTA Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award includes a $400 cash award to be used in the classroom or to defray expenses to participate in a state, regional, or national science teachers’ professional development.