(soft music) - Good morning.

How are you?

There we go guys.

There we go.

You got this.

You got this today.

Every student comes into my classroom with certain natural gifts, talents, and abilities.

And it is my job as a teacher to help that student hone those natural gifts and abilities into the person that they're becoming as an adult.

You're gonna be entering the pattern at that 45 degree angle, right?

Teaching, it is my calling, and every day as an educator you gotta come in and put yourself away and say, what's best for my students here in front of me and how do I lift them up in every way that I can?

(soft music) - [Narrator 7] Matt Winheim teaches at Sage Academy in Palmdale, where middle school students explore the frontiers of space and aeronautics.

- Five goes into 33, 6 times.

My subject area that I'm teaching with them is mathematics.

Six times five is 30, oh you're right, it does.

My elective that I'm teaching with them is the aviation and the planes and the drones.

So how do I use that aviation and planes and drones environment to show them the hands on application of the mathematics so that they can become problem solvers, whether they're interested in aviation, aeronautics or not, that they can understand that they have the capacity within themselves to do amazing things, to solve complex problems, and you know what?

You could even learn how to fly a plane 'cause this simulator works just like the real thing.

Looks like you're gonna have a heading of about 110 degrees.

Perfect, look at that, outstanding.

Well done, well done.

- [Narrator 7] Matt's dedication to his students and to the profession earned him one of education's highest honors, 2025 California Teacher of the Year.

He was one of five teachers recognized across the state and the only one to earn a nomination at the national level.

- It's an incredible honor to have been selected.

It really is.

There's a lot of great educators here in our state and abroad.

- [Narrator 7] Matt dedicates his award to his late father.

- My father was a teacher and there's a statement that's famous from, I wanna say Isaac Newton, where he said, if I've seen further it's because I've stood on the shoulders of giants, you know.

So this is for dad.

We're just here for a moment, right?

Just like our predecessors were.

And we get to be those shoulders now for our students to stand on.

With that being said there are students who we have to lift up, and they're not gonna reach their full potential unless we actually do it.

Looks like you made it.

Yeah, wanna do it again?

- Yeah.

- Go for it man, level up.

What I find most rewarding is when a student honestly believes they cannot do something, and then through a couple of activities with them, they turn around and say, oh wait, I can, I can do it, I can do it now.

And to see their eyes light up with that aha and those moments happen because of the types of classes I get to teach.

They happen a lot, you know, it's pretty exciting.

Prior to becoming an educator, I had the opportunity to join the Air Force.

I spent four years assigned here at Edwards Air Force Base.

I was working on avionic systems.

- [Narrator 7] It was during a training session, when he had his own aha moment.

- One of the instructors was taking us through the fundamentals of electronic circuits and through the lesson it was very clear that he was showing us basically algebra, but it was applied to these electrical circuits, and there was this aha.

It's like, wait a minute, and it completely floored me 'cause not only was I understanding the mathematics, but I was seeing that there's an application for it and, it stuck with me for years.

- [Narrator 7] He began to question whether he was on the right trajectory in life.

- You know, when you're a young man, you're kind of searching around, what's my purpose gonna be?

What am I gonna do with my life?

You know, that kind of thing.

And even though I loved airplanes, it was kind of a calling of God in my heart.

It was like, well go teach math.

I was like, I don't know math.

Well it was like you got this GI bill, how about go back to school, learn the mathematics, and become a math teacher, right?

And, so I actually, I got my honorable discharge from the Air Force and from that moment forward, I've given my time and my efforts to education and I consider it an extension of my duty to my country, right?

My duty to my community, to doing whatever I can to make this world a better place.

My little section of it, a better place.

Which is not easy, alright.

Alright, I'm very proud of you.

(soft music)