FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
8 April 2025
Contact: Marcy Dubroff, Associate Director
717.358.3837
The POGIL Project Names Two Educators Winners of Early Achievement Award (PEACH)
LANCASTER, Pa. — The POGIL Project has named the 2025 winners of its POGIL Early Achievement (PEACH) Award – Sidney Marquez Boquiren (Adelphi University, Garden City, NY), and Ryan Palmer (Lake Washington High School, Kirkland).
The award, given annually to one post-secondary and one secondary winner, honors POGIL practitioners who are new to The Project, who have distinguished themselves by advancing the goals of The Project, and who have an exceptional level of enthusiasm for active learning. Other criteria include leadership in The Project, active participation in disseminating the POGIL pedagogy, and other service to The Project, such as workshop facilitation, authorship of activities, and participation in grant proposals.
Boquiren and Palmer will be honored at The POGIL Project's upcoming National Conference to Advance POGIL Practice in Atlanta this coming June. Each will be presented with a plaque and a cash award.
"We are thrilled to honor these two outstanding members of the POGIL community with the POGIL Early Achievement Award," said POGIL Associate Director Marcy Dubroff. "Sidney brings a spirit of collaboration and creativity to everything he does—from energizing eSeries sessions and podcasts to expanding POGIL into the music world. His thoughtful facilitation style, deep commitment to inclusion, and joyful engagement have enriched our organization. Ryan’s dynamic leadership and commitment to student-centered learning have transformed classrooms across the Pacific Northwest. From facilitating regional workshops to developing NGSS-aligned activities and mentoring new educators, Ryan’s passion for inquiry-based learning has left a lasting impact on the POGIL community. We are inspired by both Ryan and Sidney’s contributions and can’t wait to see what they’ll do next!"
Sidney Marquez Boquiren grew up in the Philippines and Saudi Arabia, spending most of his adult life in the United States. A MacDowell Fellow, Sidney teaches courses in music theory and composition as well as general education classes and directs the Improvisation Ensemble at Adelphi University in Garden City, NY, where he has previously served as the Chair of the Department of Music and Co-Chair of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (CAS DEIB) Council. He sings with the Ignatian Schola which serves the Jesuit Community of the Eastern Province, as well as at The Church of St. Francis Xavier in Manhattan, NY. As a composer, Sidney collaborates with artists on various projects including multi-media art, chamber opera, dance, and poetry.
As a practitioner of Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL), Sidney has written activities for use in the music theory classroom. He has also explored how to adapt POGIL principles and practices in general education and honors classes as well as in multi-disciplinary courses such as “Understanding Music: Bach, Beyoncé, and Beyond” and “Music & Christian Worship in Contemporary Culture.” Sidney regularly uses certain POGIL practices in terms of students working collaboratively in teams, having roles, reporting out, and learning through discovery in his various courses. Boquiren has co-presented on POGIL in the music theory classroom and non-STEM fields at multiple conferences including Adelphi University’s annual Teaching & Learning Conference (January 2023); the College Music Society Northeast Chapter Conference (March 2023); and the NCAPP (July 2023).
He is active in the POGIL community with the strategic team on Supporting Inclusivity: DEIB Principles. In the past, he has been interviewed for the POGIL Podcast; served as a reviewer for the POGIL Impact Award; and with other POGIL friends, co-facilitated eSeries sessions on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Most recently, he was a co-facilitator of the 2024 PNM Orientation and facilitator-in-training at the 3-Day Workshop at Simmons University this summer. Sidney is also a member of Mar-lie & the Moogtones, The POGIL Project’s in-house band.
Ryan Palmer grew up and lives in a suburb of Seattle, WA. He spent the first six years his teaching career teaching integrated science at a junior high before transitioning to teaching high school where he continues to teach today. Ryan has taught Integrated Science, Physical Science, Biology, Astronomy, and Meteorology, though his favorite is Astronomy. In 2020, the University of Washington approved Ryan to teach Astronomy 101 and Astronomy 150 to his high school students for college credit as a part of the College in the High School program.
Ryan was introduced to POGIL by veteran POGIL practitioner Mare Sullivan early in his teaching career, but at the time there were no POGIL activities available for the junior high level. Once he began teaching high school Biology, Ryan attended a 3-Day Workshop in Oregan and was hooked. He began using POGIL with his students and sharing it with his colleagues. He later attended the 3-Day Workshop again, this time bringing new colleagues from different schools to learn more about the strategy. Ryan also attended a Writer’s Retreat at Seattle Pacific University and began writing his own guided inquiry activities for content not covered in the current POGIL materials, including over 20 activities to use in his Astronomy classes. Ryan has also regularly participated in the monthly POGIL summits, both in person and then online after COVID. He has cofacilitated multiple POGIL trainings in his school, district, and state, most recently the WSTA Conference in Spokane, Washington in October 2024.
Ryan also loves to travel and experience science and cultures out in the world. He has led science-focused student trips to Australia, Iceland, the Galapagos Islands, Greece, Italy, and the Canary Islands. Taking students beyond the classroom to see and experience real-world phenomena brings him joy, as does exposing students to new places, cultures, and ways of viewing the world. He also volunteers with the youth group at his church and has participated in multiple mission trips to Slovenia and Croatia, a beautiful part of the world of which he’s particularly fond.
For more information about The POGIL Project, visit www.pogil.org.
