文/ Tiffany Whitfield

Biological sciences alumnus Anthony Le uses his expertise in science and engineering as he exclusively teaches three medical and engineering classes in Virginia Beach Public 学校.

As the department chair for career and technical education and technology teacher at the Landstown High School Governor's STEM Academy and biological sciences adjunct instructor at Tidewater 社区 College, Le uses his nontraditional path of securing his Bachelor of Science in biological sciences and Master of Science in biomedical engineering to help discover new pathways to help students in STEM fields.

作为弗吉尼亚海滩人，肯普斯维尔高中的荣誉毕业生, 他获得了俄勒冈州立大学的奖学金. 他最初的梦想是攻读医学预科/牙科预科专业. 在学术上，他跟上了严格的课程, 但他的时间也被当地的公立学校占据了. 毕业后不久，他开始执教排球, 然后在奥德赛大学大三的时候开始代课.

“I found myself filling up my schedule with work quite quickly and took a hiatus from ODU to save up money for my remaining credits,他说.

Because of his close connections with ODU’s biology faculty, he knew he had to return to school.

“I had some great mentors in the 理学院 that still pushed me to pursue the medical and/or dental route,乐说。, citing biological sciences Professor and former Dean of the 理学院 Chris Platsoucas and Associate Professor Emeritus Emilia Oleszak.

然而, 代课教学结束后, it became clear that he had pivoted away from a medical career and toward teaching.

“随着我对辅导学生越来越着迷, the idea of long shifts and the resulting stress in medical settings became less attractive,他解释道.

当他回到ODU时, 他继续他的生物学本科学习, then continued his studies at the master’s level in biomedical engineering and obtained a full teaching licensure.

“I discovered ODU’s biomedical engineering graduate program and decided that would take me full circle and intersect the science, 工程和医学领域,他说.

After graduation, he took several positions at Princess Anne High School. His career began to expand more when he began teaching full-time at Landstown’s Governor's STEM Academy.

Le is the technology education teacher at Landstown and has been on that campus for nearly eight years. 他专门教授生物技术基础, biomedical engineering and a “Project Lead the Way” introduction to engineering design course.

“I'm the only one in the entire city of Virginia Beach that teaches those three courses,他说.

因为他在题材方面的专长, his students can explore curriculum designed to pique their interests in technology and science.

“我是培养每一个愿意尝试的人的忠实支持者, 挑战不确定性, 然后失败, 反复, 因为这就是我们最终成功的方式,他说. “That is ultimately what science instills – to be resiliently curious and stubborn, even.”

Recently, he was awarded several grants that funded a Cultural Expo and STEM Carnival. And this past spring, Le secured a first-of-its-kind partnership with NASA.

“We are the first and only school in all of Virginia Beach City public schools where students could potentially be the first in this area to design some products and technologies for NASA astronauts,乐说。.

His students finished first in the nation in a culinary competition and are working with NASA scientists to process an ethnic soup recipe for astronauts on the 国际 Space Station. NASA also chose a team of biomedical students to develop 3D printed medical instruments for spaceflight. His students started research for the project this year and will have products ready in late 2023 or spring 2024 for submission.  

在STEM嘉年华, students got to design and build projects from scratch with the focus on biomechanics. The carnival was led by biomedical engineering and biotechnology juniors and seniors at Landstown.

“When they build their teams, they also involve underclassmen as well,他说. “And then we also outreach to elementary and middle schools, so it's a community event.”

在文博会上, students preserved food through fermentation “while researching unique recipes from around the world,他说. “It’s like Epcot’s world countries where expo-goers get to sample food and learn about various cultures, 所以学生也要接受教育.”   

Diversity is important to Le and plays a part in how he teaches his budding scientists and engineers.

“Diversity entails not only acknowledging and respecting but embracing and celebrating differing perspectives,他说. “在科学, I find it crucial to have input from lives full of varied experiences; we cannot definitively answer the currently unexplained without insight from all perspectives.”

Le continues to challenge himself and his students in and outside of the classroom through various projects.

“如果我不知道什么，我会去学习和实验. 所以在科学方面，我每天都会得到一些反馈, 这让我可以继续流动，塑造我自己,他说. “请允许我强调我真正热爱的外卖, 每个人都有能力满足自己的好奇心. 科学探索需要 你.”