We are fortunate to have interviewed several amazing educators during our time producing this podcast. Today, we add another rock star to that list: Frederick Hermann has been teaching at the MakuaLani Christian Academy on the big island of Hawaii for twelve years. While his passion is aerospace, Frederick holds a BA in English with a minor in mathematics and a Masters in Special Education. Before becoming a high school teacher, Frederick taught GED in prison in NC; tutored adults in reading, math, and police tests; and was lead teacher for a hispanic after-school program. Now, with his leadership, his students have achieved amazing feats including winning the International Grand Prize in 2021 for the National Space Society’s space settlement contest. Additionally, they received top honors in NASA’s HUNCH contest for their work on a food bite dispenser.

This year, Frederick was recognized for his work in space education by the national space club as the Space Educator of the Year, and he and his students are currently working on a ground station that will help our two teams collaborate by receiving telemetry from a Cube Sat.

We were excited to meet him an his students face to face at the Hawaiian International Conference on Education this past January, and we look forward to more work with him. As always, stay tuned after for our takeaways.