John Hendrix, who launched Portal Middle High School’s engineering and technology career pathway and teaches the courses, and who 21 years ago graduated as the school’s valedictorian and STAR student, has been chosen by the Air & Space Forces Association as its 2025 Georgia STEM Teacher of the Year.

Established in 1946 and for decades called the Air Force Association, the nationwide professional association in 2022 changed its name to signal its support for the U.S. Space Force, now a separate military service branch, as well as continued support for the U.S. Air Force and their personnel. But the association retains the three letters AFA as its official abbreviation, both in the logo and the website address www.afa.org.

Laurie Orth, president of the AFA East Georgia Chapter, came to Portal Middle High School on Thursday morning to visit the engineering lab and present Hendrix his chapter-level and state-level prizes.

“I wanted to share how many wonderful things that Mr. Hendrix has done,” Orth said. “His application was stellar. He’s done so many things that involved industry and he’s brought that into the classroom. He’s done so many amazing things that other STEM teachers are not doing, and I cannot wait to see what else you do as you go further in your work.”

The items Orth handed Hendrix included separate chapter and state award certificates, a Teacher of the Year pin, window decal, portfolio, embroidered jacket and $1,000 check.

“We are so excited to present him this award,” she said. “AFA has three mission pillars, we advocate, we educate and we support airmen and guardians and their families. Under the ‘educate’ portion we’ve got a lot of STEM programs … and we also have STEM Teacher of the Year programs and grants for teachers.”

These are “STEM” awards because they recognize teachers making outstanding contributions to science, technology, engineering, and math education.

Hayley Greene, the Bulloch County Schools public relations director, supplied details of Hendrix’s career and teaching activities in a news release.

Hendrix currently has about 65 students in his high school engineering and technology program, which he launched nearly seven years ago and re-established after it took a one- to two-year hiatus during the COVID pandemic.

The high school program offers three one-year course levels. He also teaches engineering and technology as an elective for middle school students.

Aerospace to cast iron

Students engage in hands-on learning projects, exploring computer-aided design (CAD), coding, and aerospace principles, designing rockets and functional drone attachments, Greene reports. Hendrix sponsors an after-school club that participates in electric vehicle competitions and collaborates on various projects, including producing turpentine soap with the Portal Heritage Society.

Four of his students attended the International Cast Iron Expo, a trade show for the metal casting industry, in Atlanta in April. The students competed in the expo's Casting Dreams contest, which challenges students to design and manufacture original cast metal pieces. One of the students, Talen Tankersley, advanced to the finals and earned honorable mention, placing among the top 10 student competitors in the nation. 

“Looking ahead, (Hendrix) aims to expand metal casting capabilities, establish an E-nable chapter for 3D-printed prosthetics, and will partner with a local amateur radio club to create a ham radio station, providing students with enriching STEM experiences,” Greene wrote.

Hendrix himself mentioned plans to have students build antennas with the STARS radio club and launch ballons that will transmit signals back to a ground station. He and a group of students typically work with the Civil Air Patrol unit at the Statesboro-Bulloch County Airport on activities once or twice a year.

It was Greene who noted that Hendrix not only graduated from Portal High in 2004, but was the school’s valedictorian and STAR student in the Student Teacher Achievement Recognition program that year.

“It's fitting that his classroom and lab were once where his former STAR teacher and Georgia Agriculture Hall of Fame member, Tom Marshall, Ed.D, who retired in 2020, taught agriculture,” Greene wrote.

Education and career

Hendrix attained a bachelor's degree in biology and ecology at the University of Georgia and a master's degree in science education from Georgia State University.

He began his career circa 2013 as a teacher of research courses at Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology in Conyers. Class projects reportedly included developing antibacterial-resistant nitrogen-fixing bacteria, using metal nanoparticles for water desalination, and applying hydrocarbon-eating bacteria to break down crude oil.

Meanwhile, he introduced the school’s first 3-D printer, allowing students to create and test airfoil designs that led to presentations at science symposiums, Greene reported.

After next launching an engineering program for one year at Dacula High School, Hendrix came back to Portal to teach in 2018, becoming the first teacher for the engineering pathway.

 Since an Engineering and Technology Pathway at Statesboro High lost its teacher, Portal’s is the only program of its type among the three Bulloch County Schools high school campuses.

“It’s great to get this award and be recognized for a lot of work in that we’ve really come from starting off with nothing to building a program out of giving our students exposure to a lot of fields that maybe they wouldn’t get, especially in a rural school like Portal,” Hendrix said.

Bulloch County Schools' director of Career Technical & Agricultural Education, Bethany Gilliam, and Portal's work-based learning coordinator, Joe Bettinger, came to congratulate Hendrix.

“This is our one engineering program that we have, and Mr. Hendrix does a great job of getting hands-on activities and many different ways to enhance the class, so we’ve gone down a lot of different roads with that. …” Gilliam said.

“Engineering can come in many different facets and shapes,” she said. “It’s a huge, high-demand area in our region, needing lots of different types of engineers, whether that be what I think most people typically think of as an engineer, like a mechanical engineer or civil engineer, but also manufacturing engineering.”

Not easy to find

Officially, Portal’s program is open to Statesboro and Southeast Bulloch students, but taking advantage of this is complicated because of the transportation and scheduling requirements, Gilliam acknowledged.

“Engineering teachers are not easy to come by, and so we are thankful to have a great one here with us and that he’s being recognized for all of his hard work and really revitalizing this program,” she said.

Advancement into the AFA’s National Teacher of the Year competition is not automatic. But as state winner, Hendrix now has the option of applying either of the next two years.