Though students may not think it, summer days are ended, and in less than a month bells will ring at the North Rockland High School summoning students and teachers back to the great adventure that is learning.
One of the chief nourishers of that adventure in learning is Leo Palmer, who has made the field of biotechnology fun for his students, and has saved taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars by getting business and industry to donate expensive equipment to the North Rockland classes that he serves. "Without a doubt, Leo Palmero is one of our great teachers. It is a privilege being associated with him, and a privilege having him on the faculty," Principal Israel Bordainick told The Independent.
For over 28 years, Palmer has been a teacher. "I've taught a wide variety of science courses at the high school level such as regents biology, general biology, physical science, biology II, regents competency remediation, and advanced placement biology. "However, I'm proud of the fact that I initiated the regents biology honors program here at the school, the biology II program, and advanced placement biology."
Palmero also developed a ground-breaking biotechnology center with over $200,000 of financial support that he personally solicited from corporations within the biotechnology industry. That work - together with dedication of North Rockland students - has made North Rockland the leading secondary school member of the Association of Biotechnology Companies, as well as the leading secondary school member of the New York Biotechnology Association. "The administrators of our district allowed me to attempt the setting up of a biotechnology center. North Rockland - with some monetary support - gave me the seed money necessary for the beginnings of this program. The contacts made from the mailings I sent out enabled me to obtain the materials needed to develop the center.
"Nobody should be afraid of biotechnology - certainly our students aren't. They realize that biotechnology created the cheese and beer that were the staples of the medieval monasteries. "Though we are a long way from those days, the strides of the last 30 years have only been made possible by the visions of scientists, the advancement of technology, and the courage of companies and individuals. The companies that have supported the district and our students have really made a difference in the quality of students and the quality of education. They know that we are educating the technicians as well as the scientists and researchers of tomorrow. Because North Rockland has supported my mailings, my phone calls and me in the moments of doubt I've had about the project, my students have been the beneficiaries of excellent equipment. You know in the beginning of the school year, the students wanted to wear the lab coats to lunch because they were so proud of them. If we want our students to rise to the challenge, we need to stimulate them both intellectually and creatively. It is very exciting to feel that you are on the cutting edge of technology, rather than a poor stepsister," Palmero said.
Students are a vital part of the biotechnology experience in North Rockland. As they learn, they go down to the Farley middle school and teach other students such lessons like "why you should was your hand." Palmero believes deeply in student involvement, and giving students a "leg up" in the very competitive world of science. He benefitted himself by "really enjoying biology when I was in my sophomore year. By the time I was out of high school, I knew that I wanted to be involved in some aspect of biology," Palmero said.
Studies at Colorado State University and Iona College followed, and soon thereafter Palmer found himself participating in the ten exploding field of biotechnology. He cam directly from college to North Rockland in 1966. "I liked the district very much. The administration respected the teachers then as it does now, and I was made to feel at ease. Dr. Koch was assistant superintendent then and he was very helpful to new teachers. I started off teaching biology for beginners, and developed the biotechnology center from there. We know that students learn at different rates, and we offer different types and styles of courses. Research projects excite some students, while others need more help. Our focus is to make sure that every student is exposed to science, that every student has the opportunity to learn."
That focus on the student for almost 28 years has paid dividends. Almost singlehandedly, Palmero revolutionized the teaching of biology and biotechnology in North Rockland, and made students feel that their learning science was vitally important not only to themselves, but to the future. Palmero gave students teaching assignments which they did well, and have given them sophisticated equipment to make them realize what science is and can be all about. Palmero also encouraged and encourages debate in his classes, tackling the tough ethical issues of biotechnology and helping students realize that science is not one layered, but multidimensional. This total dedication to the student has led to some spectacular results recently in regents tests, with all North Rockland students taking the regents competency exams and the regents advanced placement exams passing, most of them with quite high scores.
The biotechnology classroom is now the centerpiece of Palmero's teaching activities, but it did not come into existence all in one day. Using seed money of $1,000 provided by the taxpayers through the district, Palmer - with the help and guidance of retired assistance superintendent for instruction Dr. Anthony Mello - made the initial contacts which resulted in donations. Once one company donated, other companies joined the bandwagon, as they could see that Palmero's program would be successful. "Not unreasonable, companies want to see that we have a credible program, and it takes a lot of my free time to keep our contributors, and those I think would want to contribute, informed of how we are doing in the biotechnology center. I spend 20 to 30 hours a week sending out letters and talking to people who might be able to help us at the district." On the weekend before the interview with The Independent, Palmer put in six hours contacting people who might want to help the center and the school district.
Though Palmero began his work when he hot to the district, it began to bear fruit in the 1990's, and 1993 was a year that was exceptionally good to this outstanding North Rockland teacher. In that year, he won the Outstanding High School Teacher Award sponsored by the American Institute of Chemical Engineering, receiving the Outstanding Science Recognition Award from the Rockland Westchester Science Supervisors' Association, and won the Sigma Xi Outstanding High School Teacher of The Year Award from Manhattan College. In addition, he was a teacher facilitator at Colorado State University and Northern Arizona University, and gave lectures a the Germantown Academy, the university of Kansas Medical Center, and the Ontario Science on the aspects of human genome and biotechnology.
Though Palmero has picked up the physical equipment that makes teaching so much more meaningful to the North Rockland students, the teacher believes that it is the quality of students themselves which makes the difference in North Rockland. "Our kids are doing experiments now that won Nobel Prizes in the 1970's. When you think of what experiments we are doing, you know well they are going to be prepared for college."
The devotion to the district and to his students has supported Palmero through some pretty tough time, including a serious illness last year that sidelined him from teaching for several months. "Despite my illness, the staff of the high school was on the phone all the time, trying to be as helpful as they could. An illness like the one I passed through makes you realize how precious life is, but also makes you realize what a privilege it is to help students learn so that they can become the doctors and the ttechnologies necessary to help people get better." Though Palmero's courses are rigorous and demanding, they are always filled, as the students response to the challenge that Palmer gives them. In addition to regular classroom periods, the students have lab periods for 96 minutes every other day.
This summer, Palmero was asked agin to be a teacher facilitator at Colorado State University and he'll return to the classroom in several weeks read, willing and able to do what he does best - introduce a new generation of future scientists, doctors and technicians to the mystery and to the wonder of science. Leo J. Palmero can't wait for the school bell to ring, and neither can his students.