The Martin H. Harris Chapter of the Air Force Association (AFA) has named Daniel Dilocker, a technology education teacher at East Ridge Middle School, Central Florida’s STEM Teacher of the Year!
Every year, the chapter recognizes excellence in the area of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) ” education by presenting an award to one teacher in each of five Central Florida counties – Lake, Orange, Osceola, Polk and Seminole. From the five-county awardees, the chapter selects one winner to receive a cash award and compete for the association’s statewide recognition.
Dilocker was selected as the AFA Teacher of the Year for Lake County and the nominee for the statewide competition.
All county nominees were asked to submit a narrative on their accomplishments and achievements in support of STEM, and a letter of recommendation from a school or district administrator. They could also include news articles, documents and photos showing their interaction with students completing STEM activities. Winners were selected based on the information submitted.
In 2017, Dilocker helped incorporate a new robotics course into the middle school curriculum. Part of the course includes the opportunity for students to gain an industry certification in Autodesk Inventory, a 3-D modeling software. Over the past two years, his students have had a 90 percent pass rate.
Dilocker also requires his students to take Digital Tools Certification Exams in both Gaming Essentials and Programming and Logic Essentials, proving that they have the fundamental understanding of how gaming technology and programming lead to the development of new products and systems. Over the past 3.5 years, hundreds of his students have earned multiple Digital Tools certifications with over an 85 percent pass rate.
In addition, Dilocker sponsors the East Ridge Middle School robotics club, using VEX robotic equipment to build robots that meet an annual challenge. He started with six teams and now has 17 teams. In 2018, two of his teams qualified for the North/Central Florida Regional Championship, and one of those teams won the state design award, one of the highest honors given at a robotics event. In 2019, five teams competed at the Regional Championships, where one team won the Judges Award and another received the Sportsmanship Award. This year, in February, he was a co-event partner of the Regional Championships, and had 10 teams compete. Three of those teams won awards that qualified them for the VEX Robotics World Championship in Louisville, KY.
“The most rewarding aspect to getting students involved in robotics is that they have the opportunity to use the Engineering Design Process to apply their academic knowledge in a real-world setting,” Dilocker wrote in his application narrative. “This format brings out creativity and innovation and has motivated students to pursue careers in engineering and design. There is no better feeling as a teacher than to help a student find their passion.”
The Air Force Association is a non-profit, independent, professional military and aerospace education association promoting public understanding of aerospace power and the pivotal role it plays in the security of the nation.
