Meet Bill Yucuis

Served as an Air Force pilot and Air Force Academy instructor and was hired away from a middle-school math department in 2002 to develop Lyman’s four-year magnet aerospace engineering program. * Builds academic, teamwork and communication skills by having student groups work on aerospace problems such as building and testing paper, straw-powered, balsa wood and foam rockets, and presenting written and oral reports. * Calmly leads a class calculating and charting the rocket-flight results, first by hand, then with a graphing calculator. "If results match perfectly, you probably … what?" he asks. "Copied off our calculator," the class says in unison. * Had students collaborate with computer and electrical engineering classes on a post-traumatic-stress syndrome project, which they presented internationally last year. * "He takes the time, he gives time," says Nicole Morales, 17. "I have calculus, and I come to him when I have problems." * Develops homegrown talent for Kennedy Space Center and aerospace firms but never pushes kids into careers, advising: "Do something you enjoy that you can be good at." That’s why he’s a teacher.