Chatham Woman Selected as Institute Fellow

One Chatham woman will attend a prestigious institute fellowship this summer.

Kelly Boehmer was selected as one of only 50 middle and high school educators from across the country to take part in the exclusive Siemens STEM Institute fellowship August 4 to 9 in Washington, D.C.

According to NewJerseyHills.com, The Siemons STEM Institute fellowship is "designed to bring teachers to the cutting edge of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education."

Attendance to the institute includes meetings with STEM scientists, innovators and professionals, guest speakers, field trips and the chance to collaborate with other teachers and share best practices for STEM integration in classrooms at the middle and high school levels.

Boehmer is a member of Chatham High School's class of 2006 and an alumna of The College of New Jersey with a degree in STEM education. For the past three years she has been a teacher at Randolph Middle School and continues to manage Gabriella's Ice Cream in the summer.

Her mother, Robbin Boehmer, was a longtime receptionist at Southern Boulevard School before she stepped down last year.

"When you see what she [Kelly] does with the kids, you totally understand why putting these subjects together is such a win-win for students and school," Robbin said of her daughter. "She decided to teach STEM at the middle school level because she didn't enjoy these subjects too much as a student and understood what was missing to make them interesting to students."