Zoe Rodriguez, a teacher at the Raymond School in Franksville, Wisconsin — near Milwaukee — has been named the 2025 Carter Craigie, N3AO, Memorial Educator. Rodriguez serves as the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) teacher as well as the school’s technology integrator and library media specialist. She also started a club for 3rd through 8th graders called “Girls Who Code.” She attended the ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology (TI) at ARRL Headquarters from October 6 – 9, 2025.

Rodriguez, who previously was a Fulbright Scholar who taught English in Colombia, is concurrently participating in the Teacher Innovator Institute, a two-year program from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. She’s excited to integrate amateur radio and wireless technology into her broad experience she shares with students. “[TI] would provide tangible ways to help my students engage in critical thinking and solve real world problems… This program would allow me to create highly engaging and hands-on projects where my students could work collaboratively and build their communication skills. This will not only fit into, but strengthen, my curriculum as I currently teach the engineering design process, circuits, coding, robotics, 3D printing, and cardboard construction,” said Rodriguez.

The Carter Craigie, N3AO, Memorial Educator of the Year program funds a seat at the ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology. It was created in 2024 through a generous endowment given by former ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, in memory of her late husband, Carter, who also was an avid radio amateur, first licensed in 1981.

A graduate of Woodberry Forest School and Williams College, Carter Craigie earned a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976. Despite life-long challenges with learning disabilities, Carter became a beloved educator. He taught fifth grade at Montgomery Country Day School in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. He also taught at Cabrini College in Radnor, Pennsylvania, retiring in 1995 after 25 years on the faculty as professor of English and Communications. He became a Silent Key in 2024.

Rodriguez looks forward to taking what she learned at TI and sharing it with other teachers at the Raymond School. “Not only will this support my teaching, but I will be able to support our general education teachers in integrating the concepts I learn to create more engagement in their curriculum,” she said.