Bio
In 2004, when Maria Cheryl Diangco arrived at Sheepshead Bay High School as a foreign teaching recruit from the Philippines, student science research was virtually defunct. The rest of the school was not doing any better.In the past seven years the school has made a giant shift, and Ms. Diangco was part of the team that engineered the dramatic turnaround. Sheepshead Bay now boasts a science curriculum and research program with real credibility. Ms. Diangco has propelled her students—and other students at the school—to pursue science research through projects, competitions, and summer research programs at CUNY, all of which have influenced their career choices. “Because of her there were science students that excelled,” said a former student, now a biology major at Brooklyn College.And as part of Sheepshead Bay’s “restart” effort, Ms. Diangco is coordinating its new Science Research Academy, which offers students the opportunity to take additional science courses—marine science, aviation, biodiversity, meteorology, geology—throughout their four years.
