Riner, Va. – In Phillip Ashby’s robotics class, it’s anything but traditional.
“My class is very loose. They get a project at the beginning of the week, they get a week or two to finish the project, and I grade them as they finish them,” said Ashby, a CTE teacher at Auburn Middle School.
There’s no mistaking one thing: he is loved by his students, and they want anything but a traditional class.
“This one is like not a core class, so we are [building] robots and fun stuff,” said seventh grader Brock Elliott.
“Sometimes we build robots; sometimes we come in here to build stuff,” added seventh grader Cassidi Phillips.
Most recently, NASA celebrated Ashby, along with other teachers from around the nation, for their work getting kids interested in science and technology, through their Liftoff program.
“I have terrible imposter syndrome,” Ashby said. “I never thought of myself as a great teacher. I never thought of myself as exceptional. I thought I did some things well. Things that my other core teachers have down pat were always kind of foreign to me.”
As for his experience at NASA, Ashby said it was better than he had dreamed of.
“I got certified to bring meteorites and moon rocks to classrooms. I loved every experience of that one, and that is what they start you off with,” Ashby said.
He said the program has opened a whole new world for him and his students.
“We met Fred Haise, astronaut from Apollo 13,” Ashby said. “He’s going to call in and talk about the Apollo 13 disaster where the rocket blew up in space on the way and how they got back, and then he is going to take questions from my students.”
For Ashby’s students, this is a class they look forward to every day.
“Ashby is just one of my favorite teachers, and I just like robotics,” Phillips said.
“He’s nice, he’s helping; he can help us whenever we need it, and he’s chill,” Elliott added.
Ashby believes he doesn’t do anything special; he simply tries to build relationships with his students and inspire them for a brighter future.
This summer, Ashby was invited back to the NASA Liftoff Summer Institute.