Rotary Vocational Service of Excellence Recipient 2018

Rotary's Vocational Service Leadership Award recognizes Rotarians who have made significant impact in advancing vocational service. Ray Blanco is a science teacher at Hughes Middle School. He is a dedicated teacher who spends hours outside of the school day for the students on Hughes Middle School campus. He started an engineering club in his spare time during the 2016-2017 school year. His engineering club has transitioned from a club to an actual class the middle offers toward curriculum. He has also initiated a robotics club as well as the 1080 car racing program at Hughes Middle School. 

These competition-oriented programs teach advanced career-oriented skills like teamwork, coding, engineering, and give deeper understanding of many academic concepts like scale and force and motion. He is in the process of expanding Hughes Middle School programs to include the creation and flying of airplanes and drones.

In one a span of one year, Ray Blanco has taken a club and turned it into an engineering course and two specialty course which serve over 70 students.

We are honored to hear from Ray Blanco.