Lasting Impact
Gila Ridge teacher receives Navy Impact Influencer Award
When Matthew Zaksheske’s former student, Bailey Phillip Bacon, asked him for his contact information and when his prep hour was, he thought maybe a cake or something of that nature would be coming his way.
But what the Gila Ridge High School teacher didn’t realize is that he’d be presented with something far more valuable: the prestigious U.S. Navy Impact Influencer Award.
The award is given to teachers who’ve gone above and beyond in making a meaningful impact on students’ lives – specifically, an impact that’s helped them get to where they are in the Navy. To be a recipient is to be someone who personifies the Navy’s core values of honor, courage and commitment.
“[Bacon] grew from, you know, kind of a little rapscallion into a nice leader,” Zaksheske said. “And I’m glad that I stuck with him enough that he would recommend me for the award. I really hadn’t had much contact with any of the armed services before this award, … and for the record, I still don’t, but it was really nice and an honor to receive.”
For Zaksheske, who currently teaches Psychology, Sociology, Advanced Placement Psychology and Advanced Placement U.S. History, the greatest honor of all is having had that impact in the first place. He shared that Bacon had the distinction of having taken a class with him four times in four years – the first two were trial runs, the third went really well and in the final year, he was a teacher’s assistant for Zaksheske. When he decided to enlist for the Navy, he had to write an essay about an influential person in his life and that’s when he wrote about “Mr. Z.”
Zaksheske noted that the chance to get to know a student over multiple years is one he deeply values as an elective teacher, especially since it strengthens the sense of community he fosters in his classroom.
“There’s a lot of different philosophies of education,” he said. “But I guess from the jump, I have always thought that you can teach whatever you want to teach, but if you don’t develop your community first, it’ll go nowhere because you’ll have kids actively resenting what you’re trying to do for them.”
To do this, he dedicates the first two weeks of the school year sussing out with his students what a community is and giving everyone an opportunity to present about themselves. Since Zaksheske has a tiered system where students can take one or more of his classes in one year and others the next, he gets to know them over multiple years.
“That’s my favorite part about teaching elective is so I don’t just sample from one plate, I have ninth through 12th and so on,” he said. “The community really organically evolves as some of the upperclassmen might take a freshman under their wing or kids that would otherwise never had classes together, find out that like, ‘Oh, wow, you’re my friend!’ I think that’s super cool.
That’s the beauty of being an elective teacher.”
And having taught eight years now, Zaksheske’s favorite thing about teaching is crafting a performance that matters and is appreciated. He considers it a fine line walking between education and entertainment.
“But I think that if it’s done properly, your kids forget they’re in class,” he said. “And then you have this great back-and-forth moment where you’re feeding off of each other’s energy. It’s kind of like being a stage performer but in a very structured, standardized setting.
“I think that’s my favorite is just when you get it right – and you know, it happens with some regularity at this point in my career – you just you feel like you’ve done something that matters. And I really keep going back to that in my head. Yeah, I probably could have chosen a different career, but I would never stop being a teacher now.”
Looking forward, Zaksheske will start teaching AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), a college readiness program, next year. He’ll be working with a cohort of freshmen and helping them build resumes, discover accessible colleges and make decisions on their postsecondary education over the course of four years.
He considers it a perfect opportunity to continue fostering community and mentoring students, just like he was able to do with Bacon.
“Bailey’s gonna do great things, and I’m really proud to have been allowed to be that impactful to him,” he said. Gesturing to the award that was presented to him, he added:
“This is a paper that hangs out in my resume for the rest of my career – great! – but that someone possibly did better because of me, like that’s the dream, right? That’s the actual dream.”