For Desert View High School science teacher Cynthia Lopez, teaching chemistry is about much more than formulas, reactions and laboratory experiments. It is about helping students understand the world around them, and empowering them to believe they can make a difference in it.

That commitment to her students and to science education recently earned Lopez the American Chemical Society’s 2026 High School Teacher Award, an honor recognizing outstanding high school chemistry teachers for their dedication to students and the field of chemistry.

Lopez was recognized by the Sunnyside Unified School District Governing Board for the achievement. The award came as a surprise to Lopez, who was nominated by Director of Science Mr. William Kotter.

“I was surprised. Mr. Kotter had actually recommended me for it,” Lopez said. “He said you would be great for this and he wrote me a letter of recommendation.”

For Lopez, the recognition is especially meaningful because her own experiences as a student helped shape the kind of teacher she wanted to become.

 “I had great teachers but particularly in STEM there was a lack of women in STEM. I had one science teacher in middle school and that was it,” Lopez said. 

Her experiences in high school also left her wanting something different for the students she would eventually teach.

“In my experience, chemistry was very abstract,” she said. “I think that’s what pushes me forward. I want better for my students. I think about my students and I want them to feel empowered and I want them to see that chemistry is part of our everyday lives.”

That philosophy has become a defining part of Lopez’s classroom.

Lopez’s path to becoming an award-winning chemistry teacher was not traditional. In 2012, she accepted a long-term substitute position teaching chemistry, an experience that rekindled her fascination with the natural world and inspired her to pursue a career in education.

She completed her post-baccalaureate alternative certification program in 2014 and is now certified in chemistry, biology and general middle grades science. She later earned a master’s degree in Teaching and Teacher Education through the University of Arizona’s Teachers in Industry program, with a STEM emphasis.

Over the past 13 years, Lopez has taught biology, anatomy and physiology, physics, chemistry and AP Chemistry. A proud Desert View graduate herself, she has also spent the past four years serving as co-department chair of the school’s science department.

In that leadership role, Lopez has worked to strengthen collaboration among her colleagues and build collective efficacy across campus. She approaches professional growth as a lead learner, setting goals for herself while modeling reflective and data-driven instructional practices for others.

Her leadership extends beyond the Desert View campus.

Lopez sponsors Desert View’s Imagine Your STEM Future (IYSF) club, a five-year partnership with the University of Arizona and Raytheon that provides young women interested in STEM careers with hands-on learning, mentorship and opportunities to connect with the community.

At the heart of her leadership is a servant-leader mindset, one grounded in curiosity, vulnerability and reflection.

Perhaps nowhere is Lopez’s approach more evident than through the work her students have done investigating water contamination in the Tucson community.

The project began with students learning about contaminants in their own community and has evolved into a multi-year exploration of environmental science, public health, civic engagement and the power students have to create change.

Lopez said the first year of the project was striking because of how many students were unaware of the contamination affecting their community.

“To me it wasn’t surprising because I grew up in this community and I lived in the plume where the contamination was,” Lopez said. “To be honest, I didn’t know much about it and it was through the project that I learned with the students.”

That shared learning experience became one of the most powerful aspects of the project.

“I just kept hearing over and over from several students, ‘we just didn’t know,’” she said. “I think a lot of people, when they find out, that is their reaction.”

In the second year, students began studying PFAS, a group of human-made chemicals that can persist in the environment. What began as a classroom investigation grew into a deeper examination of the environmental issues affecting their community.

For Desert View senior Layra Siqueros, the experience changed the way she viewed both science and her own ability to make an impact.

“We were all surprised. We didn’t know what PFAS was or how life threatening that it was. It was eye opening to us,” Siqueros said. “We were super focused on all the harm that it does, but also how we can make it better for the community.”

The students eventually took their work beyond the classroom, including presenting their findings to the Pima County Board of Supervisors. The experience helped students recognize that their voices could carry beyond their school.

“The transformation that I’m seeing ... is that they were surprised at the power they had as students in their own community,” Lopez said. “It gives me chills and it gets me emotional. It’s so profound to see that within themselves.”

For senior Kayla Anderson, what began as a science project quickly became something much larger.

“When we first started learning about PFAS it was a random article that Ms. Lopez shared with our class,” Anderson said. “Once we did some research, we realized that it was interesting. We started going deeper into it and realized how big of an issue it is in Tucson.”

Anderson said the students initially viewed the project as an opportunity to compete in a science competition. Their perspective changed as they learned more.

“It’s not just about winning now, it’s about how can we actually make a difference,” she said.

The students' work also contributed to the Pima County Board’s proclamation of Southside Environmental Awareness and Environmental Justice Week, giving the students another opportunity to see the impact of their work in their community.

“I definitely agree. Wow. Us youth can actually do something in our community,” Siqueros said. “It was such an honor too.”

For Lopez’s students, the impact of her teaching goes beyond the subject matter.

Senior Mumina Jama said Lopez consistently encourages students to think about their futures and explore possibilities beyond the classroom.

“I think she’s an excellent teacher because she goes out of her way to allow students to open their minds to different things like their career goals,” Jama said.

Siqueros said Lopez’s enthusiasm is contagious.

“She’s really passionate about teaching us and furthering our knowledge,” Siqueros said. “She’s just so excited and it brings out the excitement in us to want to learn and want to do all these science projects.”

That enthusiasm is paired with a willingness to continue learning alongside her students. During the water contamination project, Siqueros said Lopez was never afraid to acknowledge when she did not immediately have an answer.

“If we didn’t understand something and she didn’t understand it herself, she would do further research and come back the next day with an answer for us,” Siqueros said. “We would put in our work and she would match our work times hundreds to go beyond.”

Anderson said it is that combination of passion and dedication that makes Lopez such an effective teacher.

“I think it’s also the joy that she brings to it,” Anderson said. “The passion that she has with it and the dedication that she has teaching other children and those children teaching others is just amazing and she’s made for it.”

When the students learned Lopez had received the American Chemical Society’s 2026 High School Teacher Award, they said they were not surprised.

“I’m not surprised at all that she was named Teacher of the Year. It is expected of her,” Anderson said. “That’s what she does. She’s a great teacher.”

Jama agreed.

“She deserves the award because she goes out of her way to understand all of her students and help them out the best that she can,” she said.

Lopez’s work with students has also drawn recognition from the broader Tucson community.

During the Governing Board meeting, the University of Arizona’s Disabled Staff and Faculty Coalition and Las Aguas were also recognized. Funds obtained by the University of Arizona and the Office of the Provost were originally intended to support Las Aguas. The organization instead chose to donate those funds to Lopez in support of the work she is doing with her students around water contamination.

The gesture reflects the growing recognition of the importance of the students’ work and the role Lopez has played in helping them turn classroom learning into community engagement.

Now entering a third year of the community share project, Lopez said her students are already looking toward what comes next.

“They’re realizing how closely related science and politics are,” Lopez said. “They’re hearing the news of the Colorado River and our extended drought. They already know that our aquifer is contaminated. They’re interested in going a bit broader.”

The students want to meet with policymakers and expand their civic engagement, Lopez said.

For a teacher who entered the profession wanting her students to experience a more meaningful connection to science than she had as a student, that evolution represents the kind of learning she hoped to create.

Lopez’s students are not simply learning about chemistry, environmental science or the water around them. They are learning how to ask questions, seek answers, advocate for their community and recognize their own capacity to create change.

And that, for Lopez, is the real measure of success.

“I want my students to feel empowered and I want them to see that chemistry is part of our everyday lives,” she said.