Tom Stueve ’89 has to be one the most encouraging and empowering teachers in the entire 状态 of Oregon.
As a science teacher at Trinity Lutheran School in Bend, he has built a far-reaching science program which launches students into college and, 晚些时候, graduate schools and sends them to national science competitions for their innovative projects. 作为一名戏剧从业者, he helped found a drama program at the school, and puts students in charge of all the technical aspects.
“Tom is one of those people who helps others reach places that seemed far beyond their reach,格雷格·皮尼克说, 三一学院的校长. “He is a favorite of our graduates. But above all things, he loves the Lord and is a wonderful husband and father.”
可以说, Stueve’s biggest impact has come through the Oregon Solar Car Team he founded in 2007, in which high school students design, 构造, and operate a fully functioning, 太阳能赛车. The team comprised of Trinity students competes annually in the Solar Car Challenge, this year placing third at the national competition by traveling more than 500 miles in 327 laps around the Texas Motor Speedway. No prior experience is required for students to join the team.
在三一学院的早期, “I was looking for a hands-on team-building activity that seemed challenging, and we happened to have a couple on our faculty from Adelaide, 澳大利亚, where they race from Darwin to Adelaide,史蒂夫说。. “He mentioned solar cars, then wrote the grant. Off to Texas he and I went for training.”
That introduction has led to nearly 14 years of empowering students to build full-size cars from aluminum and now carbon fiber. The team’s current car is covered with solar cells which pull power from the sun, 将其储存在电池中, 然后用它来开车.
“This is not a kit,” Stueve emphasizes. “You design the car from the ground up. 它融合了一切. My guys know how to do the hardest kind of welding there is. 他们焊接了整个车架.”
His students are now soldering the solar array cell by cell before taking it to San Jose where a company will help them “encapsulate” the cells.
“The students make all the decisions,史蒂夫说。, 例如, shifting from an aluminum body to one made of carbon fiber. As the team declares on its official website, “We are not afraid to put our victory on the line in the name of pushing the envelope for what is possible. We have, and will continue to, prioritize scientific advancement over our sure victory.”
The pinnacle of each solar-car-year is a four-day, eight-hour-a-day race around the Texas Motor Speedway.
“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,史蒂夫说。. “Whoever does the most number of laps is the winner.”
This year, the race went cross-country from Ft. Worth to Palmdale, California, with an awards banquet at Edwards Air Force Base. Students describe the race as “one of the best things they’ve ever done,史蒂夫说。. “It makes them extraordinary problem-solvers.”
Six seniors from this year’s team are going into engineering, 弗吉尼亚理工大学, 加州浸会大学, 乔治福克斯大学, 和冈萨加大学. Jobs and internships also open up for team members through the network of companies that support the team, Stueve说.
Stueve’s passion for starting new things was nurtured in Lutheran education, beginning in Monrovia where he attended Lutheran High School in La Verne. He started the school’s drama program as a student, and while his education was entirely Lutheran, his goal became to teach in the roughest public schools. 为此目的, he accepted a president’s scholarship (a full ride) to Christ College and “had an awesome time there, 交了很多好朋友, and sent both of my sons there.”
在学习生物化学时, he dived into the university’s “really rich theatre program” and acted in shows, 研究灯光, 制作定位球. 他在1988年遇到了希瑟·赫尔姆, 他后来娶了她, when she was the assistant director and lead actress in Tartuffe. Tom was playing an angry brother with a sword, and helped build the set.
Stueve graduated with a degree in natural science and a minor in theatre (his senior showcase was an outdoor one-act play in a two-story set he 构造ed). After marrying Heather in 1989, she was called to teach at Concordia University Portland, and while Tom was “hoping for East L.A.,” he taught for 12 years in the Portland area.
“The last two schools were what I was going for: underfunded, tough schools to be in,他说. “Even when I worked in public schools, I always considered it a ministry because it’s about touching the lives of kids. I can do that in a very open way now and be very much a part of their faith life [at Trinity]. We have small group Bible studies and I get to be a mentor to young men and help them figure out some of their stuff they need to mature. In public schools I did that, but in a different way.”
Just as he was appointed director of the biotech magnet of Portland Public Schools, Heather was called to serve in the Concordia University Education Network (CUEnet), so the couple crossed the Cascades for Bend. 这个时候, Tom had earned a master’s degree in molecular biology and biochemistry, and in their new location he began teaching at Trinity, a school which now counts around 100 high school students.
Over the years he built what Pinick calls “one of the finest high school science programs in the 状态 of Oregon” in which “his students receive local, 状态, 以及国家认可.”
Crossing the line into the arts, Stueve also became part of a team that created a theater program — and put students in charge of virtually everything technical as they produce annual middle school and high school musicals.
“We teach kids to do everything,他说. “They fashion props, make set pieces, do lights and sound, and all the technical skills.”
Because of their hands-on training, Stueve’s theater graduates 晚些时候 ply their skills professionally and in volunteer capacities at 教堂es and concert venues.
“It’s because we let them touch stuff,他说. “At public schools, it’s usually an adult running the show. 孩子们主持我们的节目. 他们决定什么时候开始. 一切. 这是我最看重的. If you can empower kids, they come out with such confidence. 他们可以做任何事.”
The entire theater program is accomplished in a gym and two shipping containers.
“We conjure things out of air,史蒂夫说。 with a laugh. The adult side of the theatrical team all share Concordia roots. Tom serves as technical director; Heather is director; Erin Cowan ’19 is vocal director; and Jon Vevia is producer. Then there is the local science fair which Stueve started and handed off to another organization to run. It qualifies students to participate in the 国际 Science and Engineering Fair, and this year — again — one of Stueve’s students qualified to go to the international competition where $30 million in prizes are given away. This student trained an artificial intelligence program to identify various forms of skin cancer on darker skin, and made an app for it which can be used as a low-cost screening tool. All of Stueve’s science students must produce a project for the local fair.
“My philosophy of education is preparing kids for jobs that don’t exist yet,他说. “I want kids to be able to do it all because that’s what I did, and I think it makes for a well-rounded person. 在剧院和太阳能车上, they are learning how to collaborate and communicate and solve problems really well, how to learn things about which they have no idea.”
回到太阳能汽车领域, one big task is to create a telemetry system — that is, getting performance data from the car in real time. That requires students to learn how a car “talks” digitally. They also learn computer languages like Python so they can program the car’s computer.
Some team members “hardly touch the car” but canvas businesses, 发展人际关系, 并引入资金. 一些人处理社交媒体, but by the time they get to the race, all team members know everything about the car.
True teamwork begins when the car breaks down, “and it will,史蒂夫说。. “Then they have to figure out how to fix it. 这就是乐趣所在, when they figure out what put them on the side of the road and then fix it — that’s the bonding moment.”
Stueve received Concordia’s 2023 Distinguished Service Award, presented to an individual based on significant contributions through service to his or her community, 教堂, 学校或母校.
“Tom is an integral part of Trinity’s ministry and the Bend and Central Oregon communities,Pinick说。. “He is a student-first, servant leader. He has created opportunities for our students to go beyond their dreams by placing them in situations where they can get hands-on experience. He guides our students to discover solutions that they may not have ventured to attempt on their own. He is a master builder and a design-thinking expert. He volunteers to serve on our tech team. He models generosity through his time, talent, and treasure.”
For his part, Stueve is proudest of raising students’ level of confidence.
“That’s a huge piece to take with you. It’s something I felt when I was in drama as an undergraduate at Christ College and tried out for a show as a freshman,他说. “Part of what I love about teaching at a small Lutheran school is that it’s not about what exists but what you want to exist. You just have to make it happen.”