LEWISTON – Lewiston High School students and teachers wondered why they were called to an assembly Thursday morning.

They cheered wildly when they found out.

One of their teachers, Pamela Abzan, won an American Star of Teaching for the state.

Abzan, 43, of Wayne, teaches health science at Lewiston Regional Technical Center and designed the program. The three-year program is for students who want to be doctors, nurses and anything in between.

Before Thursday’s announcement was given, federal official Rogers Johnson stood at the podium acknowledging what his audience was thinking.

“What would bring a U.S. Department of Education official from Washington, D.C., to Maine?”

He explained that the department established the No Child Left Behind American Star of Teaching program four years ago to recognize teachers making a difference. One teacher from each state is selected from thousands of applicants, said Johnson, director of intergovernmental affairs.

“This year’s recipient from Maine is in this room with us right now,” he teased before announcing that the award went to Abzan.

Loud applause, a standing ovation, whistles, hoots and hollers followed for nearly a minute.

The expression on Abzan’s face showed her surprise.

“Wow, I don’t know what to say. Thank you,” Abzan said in a shaking voice when called to speak. “I love what I do every day. I can’t do it without the students.”

Lewiston School Committee member Denise Soucy, herself a nurse, said Abzan not only provides students with lifelong knowledge of healthy living, “but you have introduced them to many health care fields available to them for potential careers. What a tremendous opportunity these students have under your direction.”

Her students agreed.

“Before this class I wanted to be a cosmetologist,” said senior Allissa Chabot said. “Now I want to be a nurse. She helped me figure out my dream.”

Abzan teaches health science and helps students learn about career paths, Chabot said.

“She’s amazing,” said senior Samantha Tanguay, who plans to become a physical therapist. “I love her classroom. She knows everything we need to know. It’s not a problem for her to help us.”

After the assembly, Abzan went back to teaching. Her classroom holds hospital beds, scales, a skeleton, information about anatomy and “Patient Bill of Rights” graphics.

With her students listening, Abzan explained that she’s in her 11th year of teaching. Old classes used to offer limited nursing or medical career exploration. Abzan’s program is more comprehensive, combining rigorous medical teaching with work experience.

The kind of program she’s designed is uncommon for the high school level, said Lewiston Regional Technical Center Director Donald Cannan. Sophomores take anatomy and physiology. Medical learning expands in the junior and senior years, and includes work or internships at hospitals and nursing homes. “They’re using a lot of the things they learn,” Abzan said.

In the classroom, students were working on identifying vocabulary words (abdominal, axillary, deltoid, lumbar, tarsal and sacroiliac) with regions of the body. Abzan said her students learn about growth and development, what happens to the body during disease, death and dying, and how to communicate with patients and health professionals.

“Now they can talk like pros,” she said with a smile. “Most kids don’t know what they’re saying.”

Her classes aren’t easy, Abzan said. But because of what they learned in high school her graduates will have an advantage in college.

“These students are very driven,” she said. “They know at an early age where they’re headed. They want to take care of people.”

She added, “or animals.”

A few want to be veterinarians.