Kenneth “Ken” Robinson – 2024 2nd Place National AFA Thompson/Mallett Aerospace/STEM Teacher of the Year

Sponsored by Rolls-Royce

Winner of $2,000 Award

11th-12th grade Career and Tech Education (CTE) IT and Engineering Teacher
Kaiserslautern High School, DoDEA Europe, Kaiserslautern, Germany
Dr. Susan Paul, Principal

Nominated by AFA’s Chapter 507/Ramstein AB/EU Region
Chapter 507 President: MSgt Laura L. Westfield, USAF
EU Region President: SMSgt Erin Lefever, USAF

Ken Robinson is a Troops-to-Teachers educator on a vision quest to inspire students to have a strong conviction toward STEM and a relentless pursuit to achieve that vision. Ken has been a high school Career and Technical Education teacher at Kaiserslautern High School in Ramstein, Germany, for 21 years, teaching engineering, information technology, and, most currently, instructing in education programs.

Ken is an innovative and passionate educator dedicated to advancing STEM education. His entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to community partnerships have led to the creation of numerous impactful programs. Ken’s forward-thinking approach and “if you build it, they will come” mindset continues to inspire and prepare the next generation of global change-makers. Whether planning new initiatives or promoting STEM in the community, Ken is a dynamic force in education, always pushing the envelope for positive change.

Ken attributes much of his STEM education success to his prior experiences in sports. He established three successful sports organizations while working in Europe (DPL, A4, and HCL). His most notable accomplishment, however, would be the creation of the DPL “Die Players Liga” (the largest amateur hockey league in Germany, with over 1,000 members). Ken credits his success to having a bold vision, strong leadership, and effective community partnerships (Adler Mannheim, Andy Hedlund, and Wings of
Germany respectively).

Ken applied this same philosophy toward building successful STEM programs. His “if you build it, they will come” mentality spawned numerous STEM initiatives such as the school’s first STEM Club, AFA’s Cyberpatriot and StellarXplorers programs (which included a new summer 2024 StellarXplorers Camp), Project Horizon (High-Altitude Balloon Program), IT4U (Community Cybersecurity program), Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) (a DoD program to encourage high school students to conduct original STEM research), eCybermission (virtual STEM competition that challenges students in grades 6-9 to identify and solve community problems), plus his National Technical Honor Society (NTHS) chapter (educational non-profit that exists to honor, recognize, and empower students and teachers in CTE), STEM Academic letter, and numerous cross-disciplinary STEM projects.

As Ken’s programs increased in both number and attendance, so did his mentorship program. Through his professional connections with both the local AFA and AFCEA chapters, Ken had an abundance of community SMEs. It was at this point that Ken recognized the true potential of community-learning practices and the power of mentorship. He developed his first official outreach program – the Community Partnership Program. This initiative aimed to create a community of connectedness between the local military community, industry professionals, and DoDEA teachers. His program enabled teachers to connect with local SMEs based on specific competencies, with volunteers assisting in various capacities such as guest speaking and co-teaching.

Recognizing the full potential of community participation and professional capacity, Ken established Europe’s first SkillsUSA regional presence. Here, he began exposing students to industry and militaryAFA’s 2024 CyberPatriot (with Tech Student of the Year, Jack Salzman) and StellarXplorers Team Winners developed STEM and CTE challenges. Utilizing local AFCEA resources and teacher support, Ken established the first New York SkillsUSA Area VII (European) region. For the past six years, he expanded the range of SkillsUSA contests for students throughout central and south Germany, allowing them to win scholarships specific to their technical competencies. For the 2023 Championships, Ken introduced six competitive Skills USA STEM contests, including the new DoD STEM Challenge (Atmospheric Study via HAB), STEM Debate (AI), Engineering, Computer Programming, Cybersecurity, STEM Bowl, and Drone Challenge.

Ken’s DoD STEM Challenge was a tribute to his newly-appointed DoD STEM Ambassadorship and based largely upon his Project Horizon HAB program. His strong belief in science, reinforced by empirical research and a project management approach, has been a driving force behind many of his STEM initiatives, including the 2021 AFA Near Space Challenge. Through these immersive near-space encounters, Ken hopes to ignite the passion of aspiring engineers and scientists while exposing students to personally relevant global issues.

The DoD STEM Ambassador program has been a huge inspiration for Ken. His desire to expand his awareness of STEM opportunities and work with like-minded educators truly became a reality. For Ken, this was a chance to expand and enrich the STEM ecosystem he had already established. The new AFCEA STEM Olympics scheduled for the 2024/25 school year will be a testament to that vision as he leveraged the best attributes of SkillsUSA and created a more holistic competition model. This new model will include both teachers and schools as part of its competition framework, allowing teachers to win STEM grants and schools to compete for recognition (STEM Excellence and STEM Spirit awards). The AFCEA STEM Olympics not only recognizes STEM excellence throughout DoDEA Europe but also provides students the opportunity to compete for $20k in scholarships.

The 2023/24 school year was a monumental milestone in Ken’s career. He introduced two new initiatives: the AFCEA STEM Olympics and the STEM Lender Program. Additionally, he was honored and challenged to teach a subject close to his heart, educational pedagogy. Ken took on the responsibility of preparing future educators, aiming to develop their ability to create and conduct evidence-based, inquiry-driven lessons designed to excite interest and maximize student engagement. His goal was also to highlight the significance of authentic learning and to cultivate a STEM mindset that appreciates cross-disciplinary connections for integrated learning.