EPHRATA — Scott Sandberg, a Career and Technical Education teacher at Ephrata High School, has been recognized as a top three finalist for the STEM Champion of the Year award by the North Central Washington Tech Alliance. The other two nominees are Carrie Nordberg from Samaritan Healthcare for Eric Tiegel from Beaver Valley School.  

“I nominated Scott for a variety of reasons,” Ephrata School District CTE Director Sarah Vasquez said. “He teaches in STEM. He brings a wealth of knowledge from industry into Ephrata High School. His cybersecurity and computer programming and just computer science background, which is a rare thing to have. It's kind of hard to find in eastern Washington. And in addition, as a STEM CTE coordinator, he helps bring computer science. Whether it's through new and emerging AI trends or virtual reality or just technology in general.” 

The winners will be announced Nov. 5 at the 2024 Innovator Awards Luncheon at the Wenatchee Convention Center.  

This award celebrates individuals committed to enhancing STEM learning experiences and promoting educational pathways in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

“He is a department chair, so he leads a lot of the meetings and he's always eager to help out any of the staff members,” Vasquez said. “He's also a project lead the way. He teaches a master teacher. He teaches teachers how to teach computer science. He's also helped me write a lot of grants last year to bring technology to our other STEM programs. He just does a lot of things, not just a teacher.” 

With more than 30 years of experience in both industry and CTE positions, he has worked tirelessly to equip students with the essential skills needed for today's workforce, according to the release. 

In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Sandberg serves as the adviser to the Future Business Leaders of America, a master teacher for Project Lead the Way, the work-based learning coordinator and CTE coordinator for the Ephrata School District.  

“I just think that we're pretty lucky to have him in Ephrata at our schools,” Vasquez said. “Our teachers make the biggest impact on our students, and we have a lot of great teachers, but he's definitely extraordinary in a lot of different aspects.”