While serving as New Canaan High School principal, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi recalled Monday night, the district saw a rise in interest among students for computer science and coding.
Connecticut Engineering Education Association Teacher of the Year award recipient James Zambarano, New Canaan High School Career & Technical Education Department Chair, and CTEEA President William McDonough (pictured, left-right) following BOE meeting award presentation, Feb. 6, 2017. Credit: Michael Horyczun
NCHS offered no specific class to address those interests, Luizzi recalled, though Jim Zambarano—for many years now, the chair of the school’s Career & Technical Education program—“had talked about what might be needed to try and do that,” according to Luizzi.
“I looked him in the eye and said, ‘Well we don’t have anybody to teach that,’ ” Luizzi recalled at a Board of Education meeting, held in the Wagner Room at NCHS. “And he looked at me right back and said, ‘I can,’ and jumped right in.”
Thanks largely to Zambarano, the program swiftly was put together.
“We talk often about ‘Project Lead the Way,’ our goals and STEM education and engineering, and we are very proud of our Project Lead the Way program. Jim has been instrumental in all of that, really brought it to us, and has been the point person in that program for years and years, so he is one of those faculty members who will just help solve problems and get things done, and certainly deserving of this recognition and reward.”
Zambarano received the Teacher of the Year Award from the Connecticut Technology Engineering Education Association, or CTEEA, and is one of 50 teachers worldwide who is to be recognized at an international conference in Dallas next month, according to CTEEA President Bill McDonough.
“Our goal as an association is to promote technology education, computer science and STEM learning to all levels of education in every town across the state,” McDonough said, and specific teachers are singled out for “outstanding service to tech ed and STEM education in their communities.”
“This year I actually nominated Jim Zambarano for this award for the work he is doing not only within our association but within TSA [Technology Student Association], within VEX [robotics competition], within his associations with [Central Connecticut State University] and their certification program …. He is an exemplary model of what we are looking for in terms of a tech ed leader across the state of Connecticut, and it is my pleasure to be here and recognize Jim Zambarano as a Teacher of the Year.”
McDonough presented Zambarano with a plaque and a the NCHS teacher received applause from those in attendance.
Board of Ed Chair Dionna Carlson congratulated Zambarano on behalf of the school board and added: “As someone who has had a child who had you as an educator, I am so thrilled to see you get this recognition.”
I’m so happy for Mr. “Z” as his students call him. My son Will began his freshman year taking the introductory engineering course and had a class with Mr. Z each year throughout high school. Will graduated from Rensselaer in December having received his BA and MA in mechanical engineering in only 4 and a half years due in part to the excellent preparation Mr. Z provided. Will now has a great job doing the engineering he loves so much.
Thank you Mr. Z.
Jim Zambarano has made ‘practical’ education meaningful and relevant to many students at both ends of the academic spectrum, and that is a very good thing for New Canaan students. Congratulations and thanks, Mr. Z.