Monessen STEM instructor earns grant as Educator of the Year finalist

Matthew Strine’s students at Monessen Middle/High School have explored the fields of business and technology by using 3-D printers to create and sell custom key chains and cube-shaped fidget toys.

It’s part of the district Maker Space program the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) teacher has worked to initiate — an effort that helped earn him a $1,000 grant from the National Society of High School Scholars as a 2021 Educator of the Year finalist.

Strine, who grew up in Penn Hills, also was recognized for his work with computer science students, who learn to use the Python programming language. Since they participate in music-making competitions through the Amazon Future Engineer program, he has converted his office into a functional studio for the class.

Strine’s money award from NSHSS joins more than $20,000 in previous grants he received to expand technology-related resources at the district. The grants were applied toward the purchase of multiple 3-D printers, a heat press that students will use to customize T-shirts plus two welding machines and a grinder that students can use for metalworking projects.

“We now have nine 3-D printers and we hope to get three more,” said Strine.

Relying largely on word of mouth, Strine’s pupils sell the items that emerge from the 3-D printers to fellow students and to community members. “The students are running the business with my help,” he said.

Strine also guides students in creating small robots and pitting them against entries from other schools in an area Bots IQ competition.

His students participate in Project Invent, a national program that challenges students to create solutions for needs in their community. Inspired by a former Monessen student who uses a wheelchair, Strine’s students are working on a kit that could be used to convert a manual wheelchair into a motorized version.

“They’re trying to make it more cost-effective,” Strine said. “It would be at significantly less cost than buying an electric wheelchair.”

NSHSS is an honors and scholarship program co-founded by James Lewis and Claes Nobel, grand-nephew of Alfred Nobel and the senior member of the Nobel Prize family.

Strine and nine fellow Educator of the Year awardees “demonstrated enormous passion, commitment and resiliency to bring out the best in their students,” said Lewis.

Strine has been at the Monessen City School District for about two years. He is in his 17th year as an educator in a career that included a detour into the corporate world. That experience has informed his success in seeking grants.

“You have to be an advocate for yourself and your students,” Strine said. “I want to do everything I can to bring resources to students who wouldn’t otherwise have them.”