{"id":26429,"date":"2023-08-21T13:24:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T13:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=26429"},"modified":"2023-08-21T13:27:41","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T13:27:41","slug":"virginia-teacher-selected-as-the-2023-a-scott-crossfield-aerospace-educator-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/virginia\/virginia-teacher-selected-as-the-2023-a-scott-crossfield-aerospace-educator-of-the-year\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Teacher Selected as the 2023 A. Scott Crossfield Aerospace Educator of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) has announced that Megan Tucker STEAM Specialist and Dean of Curriculum at Hillsboro Charter Academy in Hillsboro, Virginia, has been selected as the NAHF\u2019s 2023 A. Scott Crossfield Educator of the Year<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Crossfield Award, founded in 1986 by NAHF Enshrinee\nScott Crossfield, is a juried annual competition to recognize a teacher for his\nor her exemplary use of aerospace in their classroom curricula. Crossfield, who\nwas inducted into the NAHF in 1983, was a renowned test pilot, research pilot,\nand aerospace researcher. His tests with pressurized suits led to the\ndevelopment of the space suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The successful nomination was made by Ms. Susan Mallett,\nAerospace\/STEM Education Outreach Coordinator for Civil Air Patrol and 1992\nCrossfield Educator of the Year. In her nomination, Mallett said, \u201cMegan is one\nof those unique treasures who never stops thinking of ways to help others\nunderstand, feel valued, and seek to accomplish great things. She is the\nepitome of a teacher who Scott Crossfield was speaking of when he looked for\nteachers ‘who possessed those honorable attributes we expect from American teachers.’\u201d\nIn support of her nomination, Hillsboro, Virginia, Mayor Roger Vance shared,\n“As well as being at the forefront of building an award-winning STEM-based\ncurriculum, Megan has infused aviation and aerospace education into a wide\nspectrum of the school\u2019s teaching regime that enriches traditional subjects and\ncreates an extraordinary level of awareness and knowledge among the young\nscholars. Megan has ensured that the themes of aerospace engineering are key\ncomponents in the classroom, and she has demonstrated boundless creativity in\nactivities and projects to encourage and enhance the teaching of aerospace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tucker\u2019s teaching career and accomplishments span almost 20\nyears in elementary and middle schools in Florida, California, and Virginia,\nand include the development of engaging science and space curricula and\nprograms for her schools, students, and other educators, as well as for\nnational organizations. Megan has been instrumental in building the curriculum\nat Hillsboro Charter Academy, where she has taught every kindergarten through\nfifth-grade student all aspects of STEAM, with an emphasis on aerospace, technology,\nand engineering. She has created a club called Girls in Gear (Guiding\nEngineering, Aerospace, and Robots) and implemented a plethora of special\nprograms for the students as she collaborated with organizations such as NASA,\nCAP, AIAA, Project Lead the Way, Girls Who Code, SeaPerch (underwater\nrobotics), the Space Foundation, and CASIS (The Center for the Advancement of\nScience in Space -the ISS National Lab). Notably, Megan creatively supported\nher school’s pivot during the COVID-19 pandemic. She ensured the students in\nher entire school were provided rigorous and relevant STEAM instruction via\nweekly \u201cTucker Tuesday\u201d online sessions that provided innovative lessons and\nengineering design challenges to students, making sure the tasks assigned could\nbe accomplished with items readily found in every home (a design challenge in\nits own right!). When school slowly opened, she innovatively plotted the path\ntoward continued hands-on learning and engagements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lars Hoffman (Vice President, Government Sales at Blue\nOrigin) and Jill Rutan Hoffman (Founder & CEO of Path 2 Flight), who were\nguest speakers in Megan’s 7th grade STEM class and AERO (Aviation, Engineering,\nRocketry, and Outreach) Club at The Palmdale Aerospace Academy in California\nsaid in a letter of support, \u201cWhat sets Megan apart is not only her ability to\neffectively teach aviation and STEAM concepts but also her commitment to the\nholistic development of her students. She understands the importance of\ninstilling confidence, perseverance, and a growth mindset in her students,\nencouraging them to pursue their dreams and overcome challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tucker has earned multiple honors and awards for her work\nwith students in science and engineering. These include being one of twenty\nselected internationally for the initial group of the Limitless Space\nInstitute’s Educator Program in 2022, 2021 National AFA\/Rolls Royce\nAerospace\/STEM Teacher of the Year, 2020 Virginia State Air & Space Forces\nTeacher of the Year, and the recipient of Armed Forces Communications and\nElectronics Association (AFCEA) Grant in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Frank Craven, NAHF Awards Chair, said, \u201cMs. Tucker\u2019s\nnomination was unanimously selected for the 2023 Crossfield Award. After\nreviewing her extraordinary list of career accomplishments, previous Crossfield\nwinners were truly impressed. Megan’s addition brings honor to this already\nprestigious group of educators.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tucker will receive the award on September 21, 2023, at the\nPresident’s Reception as part of the National Aviation Hall of Fame\u2019s 59th\nEnshrinement events. Over 600 people are expected to attend two days of events\nin Washington D.C. that feature the formal installment of the NAHF Enshrinee\nClass of 2023: pioneers (the late) Velta Benn and (the late) Cornelius Coffey,\nvisionaries Angela Gittens and (the late) Ed Stimpson, and aerospace heroes\nFred Haise and Kathryn Sullivan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 59th NAHF\u2019s Annual Enshrinement Dinner & Ceremony is\nopen to the public by advance registration only. Limited sponsorship\nopportunities and individual seats are still available. To purchase tickets or\nfind more information, visit www.nationalaviation.org or call 937-256-0944\next.16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) has announced that Megan Tucker STEAM Specialist and Dean of Curriculum at Hillsboro Charter Academy in Hillsboro, Virginia, has been selected as the NAHF\u2019s 2023 A. Scott Crossfield Educator of the Year. The Crossfield Award, founded in 1986 by NAHF Enshrinee Scott Crossfield, is a juried annual competition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26433,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[144,98,64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aerospace-education","category-aviation-education","category-virginia"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Megan-Tucker-crossfield-award-23-edit-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26431,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26429\/revisions\/26431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}