Chemistry teacher at Lafayette (Ky.) High School
Majors: Chemistry and Spanish<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zach Matson doesn\u2019t talk much about his multiple nominations for Kentucky Teacher of the Year. Instead, he\u2019d rather discuss the Fame Award, given each year at Lafayette High School, where he teaches chemistry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Fame Award is awarded by graduating LHS seniors. Each spring, students may write an essay about the teacher who made the most difference in their lives. Almost every year, at least one senior writes an essay about Mr. Matson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zach knows he engages students because of his love for chemistry, which he developed at Valpo. He also credits Valpo with supporting him along a career path that best fit his personality and goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBased on my experience, research is not for everyone,\u201d he says. \u201cMany schools measure their effectiveness by how many people attend graduate school to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry. But not everyone needs a Ph.D. in chemistry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zach became a teacher through Valpo\u2019s Lutheran Education Alliance Program with Parochial Schools (LEAPs) program teaching full-time in a parochial school while also completing the requirements for a master\u2019s in education. He earned his M.Ed. at Valpo in 2003 and has taught chemistry for more than a decade at LHS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zach says Valpo\u2019s embrace of future K-12 educators is both uncommon and important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe idea is, when we put our top students on the front lines in science education, they inspire the next generation of top students to continue in this field. If we create teachers who really inspire the students, people who students look up to, we will recruit more young people into the field,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zach sees this in his high school classroom, where he says he is thrilled by how many students tell him they plan to major in chemistry or other STEM fields. Though Zach did not pursue a Ph.D., some of his students are now on that track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zach is happy with the path he took.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cValpo has given me three degrees and a career that makes me happy,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat more could I ask?\u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When seniors at Lafayette High School name one teacher who made the most difference in their lives, they routinely pick Zach Matson \u201900, M.Ed. \u201903.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":2243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[13,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chemistry","category-alumni-spotlight"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"nicholaswhipple","author_link":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/author\/nicholaswhipple\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/IMG_2408-300x169.webp","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Chemistry<\/a>","Alumni Spotlight<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Chemistry<\/span>","Alumni Spotlight<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 9 months ago","modified":"Updated 9 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on July 23, 2025","modified":"Updated on July 23, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on July 23, 2025 3:22 pm","modified":"Updated on July 23, 2025 4:02 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2242"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2246,"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242\/revisions\/2246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}