Head of the Class

When Mary Elizabeth "Betsy" Glass learned last December that she and her top research students at Canterbury School were invited to the inaugural Singapore International Science Challenge, she snapped into action, scoring $900 round-trip tickets for everyone on Singapore Air at Orbitz.com.

If teachers from the other three U.S. schools asked to compete had acted as quickly, students from Canterbury, a private Fort Myers school for pre-K through 12th grades, might have had some American company when they faced high achievers from around the world in May.

Glass thinks that her students were singled out due to Canterbury's past performance in science competitions. What the modest and award-winning teacher and director of science research won't admit is that she is the school's award magnet.

In her 28 years at Canterbury, Glass has groomed and mentored more winners of the annual Intel International Science and Engineering Fair than any other teacher. In fact, she and four of her students flew straight from this year's Intel contest in New Mexico to Kennedy Airport in New York City, where they met up with the other five students for the flight to Singapore.

To prepare for the contest, Glass ran the students through practice sessions and organized a mock competition for parents and teachers. She did some homework of her own, studying integrative science and taking an online graduate class in critical thinking. She also ordered matching blue blazers for the kids, arranged for them to take their advanced placement exams in New Mexico and had their homework e-mailed to Singapore.

It was especially hard for Glass to miss her students' performances as they competed in oral and research contests while she was being shuttled to discussions, seminars and gardens. "It was like a mother not being there if something happened to [her] child, but I knew [the students] were in very good hands," she says.