How Ashlie Smith, AFA’s National Teacher of the Year, Is Revolutionizing STEM Education

AFA is proud to introduce our 2025 Thompson-Mallett National Teacher of the Year, Ashlie Smith, an exemplary 8th-grade physical science teacher at Cranbrook Kingswood Middle School for Girls in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. This prestigious accolade is proudly sponsored by Rolls-Royce.

Smith’s remarkable 24-year career in education has been a testament to her innovative teaching methods and profound dedication to fostering curiosity and global collaboration among her students. Her transformative classroom programs, such as “Cubes in Space” and “Space for Teachers,” have provided students with unparalleled hands-on experiences, including designing experiments that have successfully flown on suborbital rockets and Zero-G flights. These initiatives not only bring complex scientific concepts to life but also prepare female students for advanced curriculum with a special emphasis on space-related implementation.

“Aerospace isn’t just a content area; it’s a launchpad,” Smith said. “When every student sees their value in the mission, they don’t just learn science, they live it. That’s the kind of teaching I believe in.  And that’s the king of learning every student deserves.”

A pivotal moment in Smith’s recent work includes a groundbreaking international collaboration, ignited by a week-long STEM teacher training workshop she co-led in Lagos, Nigeria, in July 2024. This experience sparked a direct partnership between her U.S. classroom and a Nigerian school, where students exchanged gifts, engaged in Zoom conversations, and developed a shared love for science across continents. Smith facilitated the flight of Nigerian student-designed toys in microgravity aboard a Zero-G plane, alongside experiments developed by her own students. This initiative fostered crucial cross-cultural connection and vividly demonstrated the real-world application of STEM concepts. 

“When I discovered our toy rocket would go to space, I thought they were joking. But seeing it float up there made me believe,” said one Nigerian student. “I’m just a student from Nigeria, but now I know my ideas can fly, literally. Space is not just for ‘other people.’ It’s for us too.”

Through her involvement in the “Space for Teachers” program, which conducted the Zero-G flight, and in addition to her international microgravity experimentation, Smith’s students designed a propellant management device in 2025 to study the adhesive properties of liquids and their relationship to rocket fuel behavior in microgravity. Their prototype successfully flew offering real-world exposure to advanced research. With her involvement in the “Cubes in Space” program, 43 student-designed experiments were launched on sounding rockets and high-altitude balloons.

“Ashlie’s work is replicable, scalable, and—most importantly—built on authentic human connection and curiosity,” said Kaci Heins, who was AFA’s National Teacher of the Year in 2014. “Her reach now spans not just her school or her state—but entire international communities of students and teachers, forever changed by her dedication to aerospace learning.”

Beyond her classroom, Smith is an actively engaged and deeply dedicated member of the Michigan AFA Executive Committee, where she regularly attends bi-weekly leadership meetings, contributes to strategic planning for aerospace education outreach, and helps advance the AFA’s mission at both state and national levels. Her dedication extends to actively participating in AFA events, including an AFA orientation flight on a KC-135 refueling exercise and skydiving alongside members of the Michigan AFA and the all-female Misty Blues Skydiving Team, inspiring fearless leadership in her students. She even invited the KC-135 pilot to visit her school, creating a unique learning opportunity for students.

Throughout her distinguished career, Smith has garnered numerous prestigious awards and accolades, including the International Space Station U.S. National Lab Outstanding Educator Award, the Cubes in Space Educator of the Year Award, and the Alan Shepard Technology in Education Award presented by NASA, the Astronaut Memorial Foundation, and the Space Foundation. She was notably recognized as AFA Michigan’s “State Teacher of the Year” in both 2021 and 2025, and achieved the distinction of National Runner-Up in 2021. 

“Ashlie’s unwavering commitment to empowering students and teachers through aerospace education, fueled by her deep involvement with AFA, makes her a standout candidate for this national honor,” said Brig. Gen. Doug “Odie” Slocum, USAF (Ret.), the Michigan AFA President. “She has published curriculum for the ISS U.S. National Lab, hosted multi-week space camps in the U.S and abroad, and continues to lead workshops for teachers worldwide, including the Limitless Space Institute Summer Institute in Houston.” 

Ashlie Smith’s relentless passion for igniting curiosity, fostering cross-cultural collaboration, and empowering students to see themselves as creators, problem-solvers, and innovators through real-world, aerospace-based STEM experiences truly embodies the spirit and mission of AFA’s Teacher of the Year program.

The award will be presented at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Md., on September 22, 2025. She will receive $3,000 and the diamond AFA National Teacher of the Year pin. This prestigious award highlights her exceptional impact as an innovative STEM educator preparing students to shape the technologies of tomorrow.