The Bowen family includes Will, from left, Kim, Don and Matt. Kim Bowen is a finalist for Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – Kim Bowen has been named one of six Alabama finalists for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST). She also was a 2012 finalist.

For 2015, these highest national awards for math and science honor teachers in grades K-6.

Bowen teaches second- and third-grade math and science at Rainbow Elementary School. She sponsors FIRST LEGO League teams for first- and second-graders interested in computer science and in solving real-world problems. Sci-Quest Hands-On Science Center supports these teams.

“The most rewarding part of my job is working with children. Where else can you get hugs, handwritten notes and drawings of yourself from a child’s perspective on a daily basis?” Bowen said. She admits that meeting individual needs of each student is demanding.

Bowen received the 2011 Harold L. Bishop Leadership Award from the University of Alabama (UA) and a 2010 ‘seed’ grant from Huntsville Association of Technical Societies’ Science and Technology Education and Training committee (HATS STEDTRAIN).

“The one teacher/educator that will forever hold a special place in my heart is Mildred Haga, a retired principal of Ridgecrest Elementary School,” Bowen said. Haga hired Bowen when she and her husband moved to Huntsville in 1986.

“Mrs. Haga instilled in me the confidence to step out and try new things. She believed in me and taught me to believe in myself,” Bowen said.

Bowen earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in early childhood education at UA. She is a National Board Certified Teacher.

She also has taught at Brookwood Elementary School, Tuscaloosa County; Huntsville’s Challenger and Williams elementary schools; and Madison’s Heritage and Columbia elementary schools.

Her husband Don works as an aerospace engineer at The Boeing Company. Their son Will, 23, is a 2014 UA graduate in aerospace engineering and works at Boeing. Son Matt, 20, is a UA sophomore majoring in computer science. Will and Matt are Bob Jones High School alumni.

The Alabama State Department of Education honored Kim Bowen and other PAEMST finalists at an awards luncheon in Montgomery on March 11.