Richard Montgomery High School Senior Awarded Higher Mathematics Award

For the 26th consecutive year, a high school senior at Richard Montgomery High School has been named winner of the Sandra L. Heyman Higher Mathematics Award for their demonstrated excellence as a math student. Marissa Boucher of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was recognized in a May 23rd ceremony at the school in Rockville.

Jocelyn (Heyman) Dyer presented the award to Boucher in front of a packed auditorium of students and parents as part of the school’s annual award ceremony. She said that Boucher “has been a stand-out presence in the Richard Montgomery math community throughout her time at the school and is a top performer in the Multivariable Calculus and Differential Equations class my mother created here at RM as well as the IB Higher Level.  She is also taking Higher Level Biology and Higher-Level Physics.”

It's not all study and no play for Boucher. Dyer said, “When she’s not in the classroom, you can find Marissa on the softball field, where she plays catcher.”

Dyer noted that the award comes with a check that will help Boucher to “buy some of those very expensive math books when she heads to the University of Chicago in the fall, where she plans on majoring in astrophysics and math.”

The award was first made in 1999. It is sponsored by The Sandra Lee Heyman Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in memory of Sandra Lee Heyman, a long-time mathematics teacher at the elementary, middle school, high school, and community college levels who passed away in 1998. The Foundation also supports an 18-month long STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) Career Awareness Fellowship aimed at promising high school students who have the opportunity to meet with STEM leaders, visit prominent institutions, and access peers and mentors to support career exploration in STEM fields. Begun in 2020, the fellowship program has enabled 124 high school students in Montgomery County, MD,  Baltimore, MD, and Washington, D.C., to learn more about STEM careers.