NATCHEZ — Since Denise Thibodeaux’s first day at Cathedral High School in 2006, her mission has been to get students interested in science by any means necessary.

Thibodeaux’s efforts are being recognized on the state and national level as the teacher is one of five Mississippi finalists in science for the 2013 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).

PAEMST is the highest recognition a mathematics or science teacher may receive for exemplary teaching in the United States.

“I’m so very honored,” Thibodeaux said. “My goal was just to be a state finalist, so I feel like I’ve already achieved my goal.”

The National Science Foundation administers PAEMST on behalf of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

National award winners will be announced during the summer and receive $10,000, a citation signed by President Obama and a paid trip for two to Washington, D.C.

Thibodeaux said being recognized with other great teachers across the state and country is an honor, but the students are the real reason she gets up each morning.

The real reward for her, Thibodeaux said, happens each time a student who begins her class with an interest in science chooses to continue their studies with the goal of starting a career in the medical or biomedical field.

“It’s the most rewarding thing you can imagine,” Thibodeaux said. “When you have a child come back to you after graduating and tell you they’ve been asked by their adviser to be an assistant in the lab because they already knew how to do all those things or tell you they’ve been accepted to medical school, it is a feeling of success that goes beyond any paycheck you could ever get.”

Thibodeaux teaches biology I, biology II, dual enrollment human anatomy and physiology and biomedical research at Cathedral High School. She is also an adjunct instructor at Copiah-Lincoln Community College’s Natchez campus.

Thibodeaux was nominated for the prestigious award by 2011 National PAEMST awardee Kathy McKone of Enterprise Attendance Center in Brookhaven.

Thibodeaux said the PAEMST application process included a 30-page application of essay questions detailing teaching styles, methods and philosophies.

A 30- to 45-minute video of one of Thibodeaux’s classes also had to be included in the application.

“It had to be a continuous video, so you couldn’t stop the video or edit the video in any way,” Thibodeaux said. “I told my class we’ve got one shot at this so let’s make it count.

“It turned out great.”

The application also required letters of recommendation, and Thibodeaux said she reached out to fellow Cathedral teacher Jan Kirkland for one of her letters.

Kirkland said she was able to offer both sides of the coin in her letter of recommendation as a coworker and as a parent of a child who had gone through Thibodeaux’s classroom.

Kirkland’s daughter was in Thibodeaux’s first biomedical class and credits her for helping spark an interest in science that is still burning today.

“She’s starting her senior year at LSU in biochemistry and gives Denise (Thibodeaux) all the credit for her love of science and for her ability to do so well,” Kirkland said. “Cathedral is just so lucky to have somebody of the caliber of Denise Thibodeaux.”

Getting students interested in science, Thibodeaux said, is essential in an area such as Natchez that is underserved in various medical fields.

“One of the ways we can help our area is to prepare these children for the careers that will allow them to come back and serve their community,” Thibodeaux said. “A lot of the students at this school have families going back five generations, and they’re the ones most likely to come back and take care of people here.”

But Thibodeaux’s main goal and reason she’s still in the classroom is to ensure the lives of students have been enriched in some way.

“We have this quote that we always use in my class and it says, ‘The purpose of life is a life of purpose,’” Thibodeaux said. “I tell the students all the time that one day I’m not going to be here, but what I want to leave behind is the feeling that I’ve made a difference in their lives.

“Any one of these students can make a difference, and for me, that’s what will make me feel like I’ve accomplished what I was put on this Earth to do.”