Challenger Center and AIAA have announced Kelsy Achtenberg, Allan Miller, and Kevin L. Simmons as the winners of the 2025 Trailblazing STEM Educator Award. Each teacher and their respective schools will be awarded $5,000. Additionally, each teacher will receive free access to Challenger Center STEM programming, a trip to Washington, D.C., to be honored at the 2025 AIAA Awards Gala (30 April), and an invitation to attend a future space launch experience and VIP tour.
In its fourth year, the award celebrates K-12 teachers who go above and beyond to inspire the next generation of explorers and innovators. The three winners come from schools across the United States and were selected from a competitive pool of nominations. The nominations demonstrate the remarkable efforts teachers make every day to empower underserved and underrepresented students in STEM while using unique strategies, tools, and lessons in and out of the classroom to further energize students.
Each winner can select from Challenger Center’s suite of hands-on, simulated learning experiences based on their classes’ needs: Center Missions, delivered at Challenger Learning Centers around the globe; and Virtual Missions, delivered by Challenger Learning Center Flight Directors to students in and out of the classroom.
Meet The 2025 Trailblazing STEM Educator Award Winners!
Kelsy Achtenberg, STEM coordinator, math lead, and Dean of Students at The Innovation School, Bismarck, North Dakota
With 13 years of teaching experience, Kelsy has spent the past eight focused on STEM education. During this time, she guided The Innovation School to become a Yass Prize quarterfinalist, a VELA grant recipient, and a Canopy Project school. Her excellence in teaching has earned nominations for Junior Achievement Teacher of the Year, LifeChanger of the Year, Chamber of Commerce Teacher of the Year, and the prestigious Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Holding a Master of Education in Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, she crafts innovative, hands-on, project-based lessons. Her commitment to inclusivity in STEM shines through many of her initiatives, including a school makerspace designed specifically for students with dyslexia.
Allan Miller, Applied STEM and Design Technology teacher at Williston Central School, Williston, Vermont
A distinguished educator with 40 years of experience, Allan currently guides 3rd-8th graders through project-based experiences focusing on hands-on STEM activities. He spent 25 years teaching in Alaska, beginning at a Tlingit community school in Yakutat. Now a NASA Solar System Ambassador, Allan has been a Mercury Messenger Fellow and Explorer School Project Leader, and helped establish the Educator Astronaut Teacher corps. His career extends beyond the classroom: as a 1989
Reagan/Gorbachev Fellow, he taught in a Soviet school; as a 2007 Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow, he coordinated international projects for the National Science Foundation; and as a 2020 Fulbright Distinguished Educator Fellow, he trained over 500 Uzbekistan teachers on STEM education best practices. In 2023 and 2025, he led a Fulbright project in Nha Trang, Vietnam, training faculty and students at a teacher’s college on building problem-solving skills through STEM. His awards include the 2005 Alaska Challenger Center Teacher of the Year, 2008 NSTA Mohling Aerospace Educator Award, and 2013 UVM Tarrant Foundation Educational Leadership Award; he is a 2022 Vermont nominee for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics.
Kevin L. Simmons, founder of the Wolfpack CubeSat Development Team (WCDT) and Aerospace and Innovation Academy, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Kevin brings 21 years of educator experience to engage middle and high school students in aerospace and STEM education. His WCDT program empowers students aged 10–18 to design, build, and launch CubeSats—two have already flown, with a third set for 2025 via Firefly Aerospace’s DREAM 2.0. Under his leadership, WCDT students have produced over 110 technical papers and presented at major conferences such as the International Astronautical Congress and SmallSat. Kevin also works with his team to create educational resources—such as children’s books and podcasts— to make space science accessible to a wider audience. His accolades include induction into the Space Worker Hall of Fame and the AIAA Educator Achievement Award, and he co-found the annual SmallSat Education Conference at NASA Kennedy Space Center. Kevin also is an advocate, mentoring students who have participated in AIAA Congressional Visits Day and Florida Space Day, helping them learn how to advocate for accessible STEM policies and connect with leaders.
