The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) recognizes Zach Glennon as the 2024 New Hampshire Teacher of the Year and the 2024 North East Region (NH, ME, MA, RI, CT, VT, NY, NJ, PA) Teacher of the Year. The award recognizes Civil Air Patrol members who are certified K-12 classroom teachers, for outstanding accomplishments in aerospace/STEM education and for possessing those honorable attributes we expect from American teachers who are inspiring the next generation of aerospace-related STEM citizenry. Those teachers who go “above and beyond” to ensure exciting and engaging programs are provided to their students are especially deserving of recognition. Zach was nominated by Julie Sicks-Panus, Plymouth Elementary STEM teacher, 2023 Civil Air Patrol National Teacher of the Year.
Zach has, over the past three years that he has been here, used STEM and aerospace principles to create an exciting Technology Education program. He has in Tech Ed 7 used VEX Robotics (IQ) to teach the basics of robotics, both hardware and coding, where the students actively learn problem-solving, resilience, and perseverance. Another project for Tech Ed 7 is where students build bridges using common household materials while working within a budget. This gives the students design freedom with a real world application. Middle and High School students can participate in any number of enrichment activities during PAWS, which include Indoor Drone Flying, Jewelry Making, Cribbage, 3D Modeling, and 3D Printing. Zach also works closely with the Performing Panthers Theatre Program as their Production Manager, helping to create and organize elements of the shows. Recently, he led an enrichment during PAWS where students were able to create their own wands that were needed for a show.
Zach also led an Extended Learning Opportunity, where seven students helped in creating five dragon heads for a show, using Engineering Design principles. In High School the classes evolve out from a general Technology Education course to more specific courses. Manufacturing Technology is one of these courses where students can create many projects including Community Service projects, like a few corn hole boards that were donated to the Moultonborough Recreation Department and a puzzle table for the Moultonborough Academy library. In Green Technology, students create numerous projects related to current energy production methods. One project in particular was creating a working hydroelectric model, where students created and tested different ways that water can be used to create power.
During these three years, he has taken on a few leadership roles in the International Technology Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA), these roles include Vice President of Public Relations for the Secondary STEM Council (SSC), being the SSC Liaison to the Elementary STEM Council (ESC), and joining the ITEEA Elections Committee. During his last ITEEA Conference, Zach was inducted into the Epsilon Pi Tau, which is the leading international honor society for technology. Moultonborough Academy won the Program of Excellence Award from ITEEA for 2023. Zach is extremely thankful and humbled for having received these awards from the Civil Air Patrol.
To learn more about the Civil Air Patrol Teacher of the year https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/programs/aerospace-education/for-educators/available-awards.
To learn more about Civil Air Patrol https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/.
To learn more about Epsilon Pi Tau their website is https://epsilonpitau.org/.